Tissue Recovery Technician - Gift of Hope

Put your skills to work in a field that profoundly impacts many lives:  Organ and Tissue Donation. 

At Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, we’re dedicated to coordinating organ and tissue donation in the northern three-quarters of Illinois and NW Indiana. Our goal is to provide the highest  quality service to families and hospitals as we strive to fulfill our mission of saving and enhancing the lives of as many people as possible through organ and tissue donation.

Tissue Recovery Technician uses surgical instruments to recover tissues for transplant from a deceased donor body during a tissue recovery case; precepts new employees and displays respect for the donor during each case.

Experience in an anatomy or cadaver lab is very applicable, as is experience as an EMT, Paramedic, Surgical Tech or Patient Care Tech.

Compensation range is $27.76 - $29.28 / hour

This is a noon to midnight shift. 

Our Benefits

In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a comprehensive benefits package:

• Medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance options for full-time employees
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) plan
• 403(b) retirement plan with company match
• Tuition Reimbursement up to the IRS-allowed maximum
• Personalized learning and educational development opportunities
• Monthly cell phone and internet stipends
• Paid Parental Leave
• Annual Employer-funded Lifestyle Spending Accounts to support wellness needs
• Support and counseling for personal, work financial or family needs through our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and our partnership with Critical Incident Stress Consultants (CISC)

The following essential functions are the basic job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation.

SHIFT: (12 PM – 12 AM )

• Advance Gift of Hope's mission, vision and core values:  providing compassionate service, contributing outstanding teams and engaging as one of our passionate people committed to a positive culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Adhere to all policies and procedures in carrying out the responsibilities of this position.

Participate in all aspects of tissue recovery such as:

• Use surgical instruments, such as scalpels and saws, to recover authorized donor tissue
• Loading/unloading equipment
• Cleaning and decontaminating instruments
• Transporting/transferring donor as necessary to and from morgue, patient room or other recovery area
• Setting up tissue recovery supplies and equipment in an aseptic fashion
• Donor prepping and draping
• Tissue culturing, packaging and shipping as needed
• Providing post-mortem care to donor, e.g. reconstruction, re-identifying, placing in a body bag
• Closing post-operative and other incisions, such as autopsy incisions, as needed
• Verifying donor identification
• Verifying authorization and understanding tissue to be collected
• Assisting with physical assessment of donor for high risk behaviors
• Aseptic recovery of authorized tissue
• Verifying tissue recovered has authorization for recovery
• Collecting donor blood samples and performing testing as trained
• Packaging of tissue
• Cleaning the recovery suite and other pertinent recovery areas

• Act as a preceptor to new employees
• Attend organizational and/or department events such as staff meetings and/or training outside of regularly scheduled hours
• Read email, complete electronic assignments and read Gift of Hope internal portal daily when on shift
• Other duties as assigned

For per-diems or other employees with their home as their base location:

• • Ability to arrive at the designated tissue recovery location or meeting point within 1 hour or less of dispatch

Education and Training Required

The following identifies the minimum education and training required to perform the essential functions of the job.

• EMT-P (paramedic), EMT-B, CST or ORT, or high school diploma/GED with 6 months’ tissue banking experience or 18 months of related experience

• Or, Bachelor’s Degree in Biology or related field, with anatomy lab experience
• Other candidates may be considered on an individual basis at the discretion of management dependent on aligned job experience

Experience and Skills Required

The following indicates the minimum skills and experience required to perform the essential functions of the job.

• Experience maintaining proper aseptic technique
• Experience using surgical instruments such as scalpels and suture needles
• Ability to recover all donor tissues proficiently once trained
• History of high-quality tissue procurement (low error rate) and low level of tissue contamination preferred
• Ability to transition to role of Tissue Recovery Coordinator within 1 year after training complete in the Technician role
• Basic computer skills

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

• Ability to work in Gift of Hope and hospital operating rooms, and coroner and medical examiner offices
• Ability to drive personal car to hospitals and other locations to perform job functions
• Ability to work outside normal business hours including nights, weekends and holidays
• Ability to walk, stand, bend, stoop and kneel to perform job functions

• Ability to work 12- to 24-hour shifts, as dictated by organizational needs

• Ability to use personal cell phone for business purposes
• Ability to hear and speak to convey information to co-workers
• Ability to stand for up to 6 consecutive hours to complete a case
• Ability to see to conduct donor assessment
• Fine motor skills to package and label recovered tissue
• Ability to arrive at tissue recovery site within 1 hour after being dispatched, if not already on-site at a Gift of Hope office
• Ability to move up to 50-75 lbs.
• Ability to move and turn donors of a maximum of 400 lbs. with assistance, and move them from cart to cart, or cart to table

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that will be encountered by an employee while performing the essential functions of the job.

• Work a rotating shift schedule to respond to tissue referrals throughout Gift of Hope’s service area

• Work 2-3 weekends per month while on the call schedule
• Work in Gift of Hope and hospital operating rooms, and coroner and medical examiner offices in designated service area
• Possible exposure to communicable diseases, hazardous materials, pharmacological agents, with little likelihood of harm if established health precautions are followed
• Use of surgical equipment such as needles and scalpels without causing injury to self or others
• Travel by personal car within Gift of Hope’s service area
• Respond timely to Gift of Hope’s notifications via smartphone
• Overnight travel 1 – 2 times a year for up to 4 nights for training, education and/or conferences
• Attend organizational and/or departmental staff meetings, training, etc., outside scheduled work hours
• Carry a personal cell phone to be accessible outside regular business hours

The policy of Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network is to promote equal employment opportunity through a positive and continuous program of specific practices designed to ensure the full realization of equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or status as a disabled veteran, recently separated veteran, other protected veteran, or Armed Forces service medal veteran designated under the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act, as amended (VEVRAA).  This reaffirms our commitment to this policy.