Reading, writing and playing - Rochester Institute of Technology

Julie Burkett ’11, left, dissects an eye during a training session as RIT student Nicholas Biondi, Sarah Taber ’11 and Mark Lohkamp Jr. ’11 look on. RIT alumni and current
students make up nearly 40 percent of the staff at Rochester/Finger Lakes Eye & Tissue Bank.
the case instead of a team of four. I have to
do the chart review myself, which gives me
a better sense of the patient’s background
and what led them to the hospital.”
Biondi likes the group dynamics of
working in a team focusing on collecting
bone and tissue.
“I prefer group-based activities to individual
tasks, so that weighed heavily on my decision,”
Biondi says. “Also, since I had already
taken gross anatomy, I was more familiar
with the layout of tissues and tendons.”
Helping others
Many of the recovery technicians aspire to
go to medical school. Lohkamp is interested
in orthopedics. “Doing the tissue recovery
is applicable to what I want to do, considering
the surgeons use a lot of the tendons we
recover.”
Taber will begin osteopathic medical
school at Virginia Tech this fall with hopes of
becoming a pediatric cardiologist.
Like Taber, Biondi and Burkett also express
interest in pediatrics and are interviewing at
prospective medical schools.
“A lot of per diems use this job as a stepping
stone to further their careers or their
future education goals, such as going to
nursing school, physician assistant school
or becoming a medical doctor,” says clinical
director Sharpe. “There are other people who
have made it a career; I started off as a per
diem, just on weekends.”
A significant number of people benefit
from recovered eyes and tissues, Sharpe says.
“It will surprise you.” She pulls numbers from
the agency’s annual reports from 2008-2010:
874 people received corneas, 106 were given
heart valves, 45 recip ients benefited from
blood vessels and 650 were given skin grafts,
while 6,790 individuals received bone, pericardium,
fascia and tendons.
“First priority for these donor gifts of
corneas and tissues is given to our local
surgeons and hospitals,” Sharpe says. “If there
is no immediate local need, only then are
these gifts offered out beyond the Rochester
region, out of state and then internationally.
One eye donor can help two to four people.
One eye, tissue and bone donor can help up
to 75 people.”
The benefit extends to the staff at the
Rochester/Finger Lakes Eye & Tissue Bank
whose efforts make the donations possible. The
nature of their work reflects back upon them.
“The best part of my job is knowing that
I am actively making someone’s life better,”
Taber says. “This experience has immersed
me in the medical field and taught me that
even after a patient has passed, they can still
offer their help to others in need.”
Susan Gawlowicz ’95
Becoming a donor
People of all ages and medical histories are
potential donors. The medical condition of the
donor at the time of death will determine what
organs and tissue can be donated. To learn
more or to enroll in the New York State Donate
Life Registry, go to www.donatelifenewyork.
com. For information outside of New York, visit
your state’s department of health website.
SPRING 2012 | 15