MISSION STATEMENT

Intermountain Donor Services (IDS) is a federally designated nonprofit community service organization dedicated to the recovery and transplantation of organs and tissues. IDS serves Utah, south eastern Idaho, and Western Wyoming encompassing 2.7 million residents, 79 hospitals, and 4 transplant centers. IDS performs its procurement role, combined with community awareness and education, with the following goals in mind: To provide high quality organ and tissue procurement services to the medical and public communities we serve. To educate medical professionals and the public sector on the benefits of organ and tissue donation in order to provide, in a sensitive manner, the option of donation to all individuals. To provide an organizational environment that attracts, retains, and motivates qualified employees who are dedicated to our mission, vision, and values.

History of IDS

The first organ recoveries in the Intermountain area began in the mid-1960s at the University of Utah Medical Center. This program was established to meet the needs of early renal transplant efforts and was coordinated by the transplant surgeons and their nursing staff. This evolved into transplant coordinators who were involved in the care of the recipients. Since then, organ procurement has grown from a single hospital's efforts to an independent agency providing procurement services to 74 intermountain hospitals and four transplant centers. The beginning of LDS Hospital's kidney and liver transplant program, in 1984, led to the formation of a full-fledged procurement organization in Utah: U.T.A.H. (Utah Transplant Affiliated Hospitals). The cardiac transplant program in 1985 extended the availability of heart transplants in the area. Federal legislative changes in 1986 defined the structure and function of organ procurement organizations (OPOs), stipulating that only one OPO could function within a given area. This led to an independent OPO located outside the transplant center. In 1987 Intermountain Donor Services (IDS) was formed as that agency. In 1995, IDS became a full tissue recovery agency doing bone, skin, heart valves, and saphenous vein recovery. Because of highly trained professional staff, IDS has established itself as one of the most efficient OPOs in the United States - being ranked third (out of 62) by an Associated Press study in 1998 and ranked second in a similar study for AOPO in 2003.