Funeral Home Resources

Donation provides so many benefits to our society - more people are in need of the gifts of donation than there are donors. We thank you and your funeral home for your support in facilitating the donation process. Your roles in linking Legacy of Life with potential donor families at the time of death and for providing a location to conduct the recovery procedure are crucial parts of a very important process. THANK YOU!

Suggested Procedures:

* Be supportive of the donation process - we don't ask you to suggest donation to donor families, we would ask that if the family wishes to donate, you work closely with us to facilitate this process.

* Please confirm that the family has talked with a donation organization. If they have not, please contact Legacy of Life at 1-800-397-3077. This number is answered 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

* To refer a potential donor, your funeral home may also contact Legacy of Life at 1-800-397-3077. This number is answered 24 hours per day, every day of the year. With this call, please have the following information available:

    * Name of deceased
    * Age of deceased
    * Cause of death
    * Name of next of kin
    * A phone number where we can reach the next of kin

      
* Given time is of the essence, please provide as accurate information as possible, particularly relating to a correct number where we can reach the next of kin in a timely manner.

* We suggest you DO NOT try to discuss the option of donation with the family without the involvement of Legacy. We have found a telephone call from our trained staff is more comfortable for the family and more effective at explaining the option of donation. Given the sensitive nature of this discussion, we have found it is often more comfortable both to the family and the funeral home to Legacy initiate this discussion.

* If it is convenient, we would ask you hand out a copy of the Legacy of Life brochure to the family. You can also mention that Legacy of Life will be contacting the family. Again, we suggest leaving the donation discussion to the staff of Legacy of Life . If you do not have any of these brochures, contact us, or click here to download.

Facilities Use

When Legacy of Life uses the facilities at your funeral home to perform the donation surgery, we will work closely with you to ensure (1) this happens expeditiously, (2) reconstruction processes prep the donor for your processes, and (3) we leave your facility cleaner than when we arrive.

To reimburse for the use of your facilities, a financial remuneration to your funeral home from Legacy of Life can, in some instances, be negotiated into your agreement with Legacy. We will work with you to ensure your funeral home and the donor family incurs no cost in support of the donation process.

Staff Education

Legacy of Life provides training to your funeral home's staff through in-services. In addition to typical training and review of processes, we also take some time to recognize and thank you and your staff for your contribution to the donation process. We make this a celebration of the donation process and of the important role your team plays in the process.

Bereavement Assistance to Families

In addition to contacting families regarding donation, our staff are trained to assist families coping with loss. We also provide a number of group meeting opportunities, a series of booklets mailed to assist the family with grieving, and multiple opportunities to honor donors and their families. We genuinely believe donation can be an important part of the healing process for families and we work with them to achieve this end.

Communications Tools

To assist you, we have developed a number of tools to facilitate communications regarding donation. Many can be downloaded and printed directly from this website.

    * The Legacy of Life brochure for donor families. Contact Legacy of Life to obtain copies of this brochure. Click here to download a copy of this brochure if you wish to print some at your location. (5MB)

    * Funeral Home Training Guide - printed copies of our funeral home training is provided to our our partner organizations, however, you can download a copy of this training here. (coming soon)

    * The Legacy of Life website - please feel free to direct potential donor families to this website. There is an extensive "Family Resources" section of the website.

A Contract with Legacy of Life

If you are not already a funeral home partner with Legacy of Life, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss how this partnership benefits your organization. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your staff.

Click here to see "10 Benefits You Funeral Home Gains Partnering with Legacy of Life."

Please contact us to set up a meeting to discuss how Legacy of Life can be your tissue donation partner.