“Our living donors are superheroes,” says Antonio Di Carlo, MD, CM, FACS, FRCSC. “They should walk around with capes.”
That’s why, as Surgical Director of Kidney, Liver and Pancreas Donation and Living Donation at Temple University Hospital, Dr. Di Carlo is dedicated to ensuring that our living donors have the best experience. It’s an attitude that the rest of our Living Donor Program, which facilitates kidney donations, shares—and that has led to a tremendous increase in living donations over the past decade.
“11 years ago, Temple did about one living donor kidney transplant a year,” Dr. Di Carlo says. “In a busy year, we would’ve done three. Last year, we did about 30.”
Because living donations usually lead to better recipient outcomes, we try to encourage them whenever possible. “Nothing works faster, better, and longer than a living donor kidney,” Dr. Di Carlo says. “Unfortunately, you’ll usually wait five to six years for a deceased donor kidney. And we know that the less time you’re on dialysis, the better you’ll do after your transplant.”
“But if you can find a living donor, you can be on dialysis for a shorter amount of time, and we can screen the donor and find out everything we need to know about their health history,” he continues. “The kidney also doesn’t experience a code event, and it’s taken from the donor and transplanted into the recipient very quickly. It’s the ideal situation.”
Supporting Our Superheroes
At the same time, we also want this to be an ideal experiece for the living donor—which is why, as Dr. Di Carlo says, “We go above and beyond to make it as easy and seamless as possible.”
“These people aren’t coming to the hospital because they need to be treated,” he continues. “Their only disease is that they’re too darn nice. They’re volunteering to get this surgery just because they want to help someone. Temple always does a great job of taking care of people, but we want to make sure everything is perfect for them.”
“I think this is the best job at Temple Health,” says Living Donor Kidney Transplant Coordinator John Mulligan, CCTC, RN, MSN. “You get to work with incredibly generous people. We give a lot of attention to each of our living donors, and our goal is to maintain that level of individualized care while growing the program.”
That’s why the team has added two new members: Living Donor Kidney Transplant Nurse Coordinator Mary Beth Lawrence, CCTC, BSN, RN and Living Donor Patient Navigator Carly Capano. They joined Mulligan and Transplant Support Coordinator Qiara Aycox, as well as Director of Clinical Transplant Services for Abdominal Transplant and the Living Donor Program Ryan Ihlenfeldt, DNP, RN, CCRN.
“With more team members, we can get to potential donors faster,” Mulligan explains. “We can get them plugged into our system immediately, and move them through the testing and interview process in weeks, not months. That matters, because while recipients are totally focused on getting their transplants—which is understandable—donors have busy lives. They have jobs, they have children, and they’re very active. That’s why we have to do everything we can to accommodate their schedules and move them through the process quickly.”
A Culture of Constant Improvement
The team is also ramping up its living donation awareness efforts in our community. “When I’ve visited dialysis centers, I’ve found that a lot of people don’t even know about living donation,” says Capano. “That’s why outreach is such an important part of our program.”
“In the past, people have come to us when they wanted to donate, but now, we’re increasing our presence in neighborhood spaces and at community events,” Ihlenfeldt says. “If we start planting seeds and putting this out there as an option, I think we’ll see the fruits coming back to us.”
In the meantime, the program continues to receive rave reviews from patients—with comments praising how supported staff made them feel throughout the entire process—and the team is looking for even more ways to improve.
“We’re always trying to learn lessons,” says Dr. Di Carlo. “How can we make it easier to find donors? How can we support donors better? We want to make sure we’re staying up-to-date and still using the best protocols and screening tests. Right now, about 25-30% of our kidney transplant recipients are getting living donor kidneys, but we would love to get that up to 40-50%. That means constantly learning, and constantly improving, because we want to be the best for our donors.”
