January Cabinet Meeting
LEBW Report for Council of Gouernors Jan 9, 2016
Darice Langharn ED, Rick Daluge CR, Jerry Wille, President

As of my last report in October, I shared with you the Lions Eye Bank team's renewed comnritment to our mission, "Giving the Gift of Sight". The report that I will be giving you tonight, and the recovery and transplantation statistics is reflective of what this team is now doing, and the shift that has taken place over the past year or so. Our team is strong, and excited to see the results of their hard work. And they are working very hard.

At last report, I announced that we had begun in-house processing of corneas, and I am happy to report that in just a few short months, we are now cutting approximately 5O% of our partial thickness DSAEK corneas for our surgeons, and having very good results. We will continue to increase the percentage of corneas that we prepare on-site over the next few months, and look to be cutting 100% by late spring, using the lowa Eye Bank only as a backup in emergency situations.

You may remember me referring to the new mantra at our e'fe bank facility, "Every cornea,..Every time" and our focus on finding additional outlets for each and every cornea, in order to avoid telling a donor family that we were unable to find placement for the tissue. The commitment has not faltered.

Our donor recovery activity and tissue placements continue to stay up. i announced in my last report in October that we had a record setting donor recovery of 103 donors in July. lf you can believe it, the numbers continue to exceed even those previously reporled. ln October, there was an incredible 114 donor recoveries performed. That's 227 corneas, just in the month of October to improve the lives of so many in need. We can credit that increase not only to our careful evaluation and newtound commitment of the team, but also the work the eye bank team has done educating the public on the need for donations. Our Wisconsin Donor Registry numbers continue to exceed our expectations. As of rnid-year this year, 57% of Wisconsinites were signed up on our Donor Registry and your efforts at promoting the registry continue to be important.

While our donor recoveries are up/ our eye & cornea placements also continue to remain more than 40% higher than last year. We are not only meeting the needs of our surgeons and patients here in Wisconsin, but have increased our contribution to more surgical procedures within the United States. and even beyond, when necessary.

Our Donor Family Support program continues to grow, and there is not a week that goes by without connecting with more families on a persoftat level. Much of the contributions made to the Eye Bank by Lion and Lioness Clubs are earmarked to continue this support, as we recognize that without them, being so gracious to agree to the donation process, even in their time of grief, we would have nothing...no hope for those in need.

The Lions/Lioness transporters continue to do a great job for the Eye Bank, moving tissue to and from the Eye Bank for our surgeons and LEBW staff. We hope you will join us on June 23 at Western Lakes Golf Club for our annual golf outing, Our Annual Meeting date is not set yet but will be in July and separate from the Golf Outing this year. Crystal Vision Award is on March 10th, location isn't decided on yet.

Shopko has renewed their commitment to provide 5 Exams/Glasses free from each store for 2016. It's important that we use them all up. This program works well with the Vision Screening program and we are very appreciative of Shopko's willingness to make a difference.

Thank you for all your support and know that your Eye Bank is strong and giving the Gift of Sight to so many people, Giving the Gift of Sight is an awesome responsibility!