Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Band Annual Report 2019-20
- 2,393 Eye Donations from Colorado and Wyoming
- 2,427 Sight-restorative Transplants
- 386 Tissues Used in Research and Training
The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank has not shut down at any point in the pandemic.
Because RMLEB places tissues for transplant around the world, we saw the effects of COVID-19 early. As elective surgeries were canceled in Asia and then in Europe, it became clear that our operations would be affected here at home. It wasn’t long before elective surgeries in the U.S. would also be halted.
Even through Colorado’s period of quarantine, the eye bank retained all employees and remained open to provide eye tissues for emergency cases only. We went from managing an average of 8 donors per day, to an average of one or two a week during the prohibition of elective surgeries in most of the country. Nonetheless, the work of screening every potential donor continued.
Staying open and on stand-by allowed us to implement COVID-19 recommendations to our medical standards in real time and to ramp up quickly as the country returned to performing corneal transplants. Given our readiness and the high donation rate in our two-state area, many looked to RMLEB for help. In June, we provided eye tissues to 29 other eye banks around the country to help meet the increased domestic need for transplant corneas.
Stories and more comments from the staff are in the Annual Report
“I am proud to work for such a great organization and make a difference — one that has taught me so much and has allowed me to grow, that took care of its employees during this pandemic, and one that fulfills the wishes of eye donors and their families.” — Jessica, Processing Technician