Getting Started
Once a referral from a physician or dialysis center is received by the John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center, that patient can expect to be scheduled for education and evaluation soon thereafter.
Education sessions allow our transplant coordinators to discuss the evaluation process, transplantation requirements, the wait list process, and living donation (if applicable). All patients are encouraged to bring a family member or friend to the education session that will be involved in their ongoing care.
During evaluation the patient can expect to see a transplant surgeon, dietitian, pharmacist, financial coordinator, social worker, living donor coordinator (if applicable), and either a Nephrologist for kidney patients or Hepatologist for liver patients. Additional testing may be necessary after the initial evaluation.
Once the evaluation and testing are complete, each patient’s case is brought before the Transplant Selection Committee. Patients will be notified by mail that they are being added to the wait list or that they are not a candidate at the current time.
Potential kidney recipients on the wait list are seen annually until transplantation. Potential liver recipients are seen more frequently depending upon the severity of their illness.
Living Donation – Getting Started
All transplant patients who are eligible to receive an organ are encouraged to reach out to their families, friends, and communities to identify a potential living donor. Patients are given the following living donor paperwork at their education session.
Once the Living Donor Coordinator has received and processed the necessary paperwork, she will call the potential donor to discuss the evaluation and matching process. The first step is to do blood work to test for compatibility of the donor and recipient. If those results come back as compatible, the evaluation can move forward.
Potential donors will then be seen by a transplant surgeon, nephrologist, social worker, independent living donor advocate, dietitian, pharmacist, and financial coordinator. The surgeon and nephrologist evaluating the potential donor are not involved in the evaluation of the recipient in order to provide an unbiased opinion. Once everyone has had the opportunity to evaluate the potential donor, the donor is brought before the Transplant Selection Committee for review.
If the Selection Committee agrees to move forward with the living donor transplant, surgery can be scheduled at that time.
Altruistic Living Donation – Getting Started
Those interested in becoming an altruistic organ donor need to complete the living donor paperwork and turn in to the Living Donor Coordinator via fax, (318) 212-4552, or by mail to 2751 Albert Bicknell Drive, Suite 4A, Shreveport, LA 71103.
More information can be obtained by speaking with the Living Donor Coordinator, (318) 212-8384.