VIDEO: A new partnership hopes to increase the number of people in Indiana who can donate tissue after they die.
The partnership is between Carmel Fire Department and Indiana Donor Network. The changes that this partnership brings could impact thousands of people a year.
Organs cannot be donated from people who die outside of a hospital.
“Historically in Indiana, those people who may die out of the hospital would never have the chance to become a tissue donor,” said Logan Miller with Indiana Donor Network.
By law, not everyone has to report when someone dies to the donor network. “In Indiana, the only people who are required to make a referral are hospitals. So if you pass away at a nursing home, if you pass away on hospice, if you pass away anywhere outside of a hospital, referrals are not made,” Miller said.
Carmel Fire Department knows the impact that a donation can have on a person’s life.