Donation & Family Advocate

$69,000 - $78,000/Yr

Gift of Hope - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Entry Level

Chicago, IL

Ambulatory Health Care Services

About the position

The Donation & Family Advocate position is a full-time, 40-hour, on-call position. This role requires the employee to be available on nights, weekends and holidays (as agreed upon by the department and the supervisor) to meet organizational needs and ensure proper coverage. The primary function of the Donation & Family Advocate is to present the donation option to families, answer questions and inspire them to say yes to donation in a manner that supports Gift of Hope's mission. Compensation range for this position is $69,000 - $78,000 annually.

Responsibilities

• Advance Gift of Hope's mission, vision and core values: providing compassionate service, contributing to outstanding teams and engaging as one of our passionate people committed to a positive culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Respond to active organ referrals at hospitals across our service area within established timeframe.
• Effectively and efficiently review and document patient's medical/social information needed to make determination for donation potential in collaboration with Clinical Administrator-on-Call (AOC).
• Evaluate family dynamics and readiness with the assistance of the healthcare team; collaborate with healthcare team to formulate plans that address the needs of the family.
• Coordinate and conduct effective Patient Care Conferences (PCC) with healthcare team and service lines involved in care of patient.
• Collaborate with healthcare team to facilitate necessary testing and services needed to determine potential for donation.
• Collaborate with hospital and healthcare team to provide potential donor families with accurate and timely information regarding the patient's clinical course.
• Maintain communication with hospital staff and attending physician regarding the potential donor family's understanding of the prognosis.
• Communicate with the attending physician and other members of the healthcare team to establish rapport and ensure a collaborative planned approach for the donation discussion and authorization process.
• Determine family's level of understanding with prognosis and what needs they may have in order to make appropriate decisions about organ/tissue donation.
• Compassionately advocate for donation by providing information about the benefits of donation.
• Offer donation to family in an empowering and inspiring manner.
• Provide patient, respectful and compassionate care for donor families.
• Provide donor families appropriate clinical support before and throughout the donation process.
• Provide donor families timely follow-up information regarding outcome throughout the case and post-op.
• Establish and maintain professional relationships with hospital staff.
• Provide education to involved healthcare team while involved in referrals, where needed.
• Conduct rounding in hospital units when assigned.
• Attend internal and external hospital debriefs.
• Provide education to hospital staff regarding authorization, family care, and the donation process.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in an allied healthcare field, business administration, education, advocacy, or related field; or equivalent work experience.
• 3-5 years of healthcare experience, counseling, case management, advocacy, or child welfare preferred.
• Proven experience in showing comfort and confidence in the presence of emotional distress, dying and death.
• Proven experience in interpreting verbal and non-verbal communication; demonstrating situational awareness, compassion and empathetic listening skills.
• Proven experience effectively advocating, collaborating and negotiating with healthcare professionals to solve complex problems.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to connect and influence others.
• Proven experience demonstrating assertive responsiveness to changing clinical and social/emotional dynamics.
• Proven experience in responding to changing needs; prioritizing effectively, and communicating effectively and constructively during times of stress.
• Proven experience in demonstrating a high level of accountability with internal and external partners.
• Proven experience in working in a hospital environment, particularly emergency departments, critical care units, and intensive care units.
• Proven experience in effectively conveying information to co-workers, hospital staff, and potential donor families.
• Basic computer skills.

Benefits

• Monthly cell phone stipend available.