The anatomic gift foundation, inc. , (agf) d/b/a anatomy gifts registry and cremation center of maryland, is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), organization founded in 1994. The mission of agfs caring and compassionate program is to serve meritorious research scientists, clinicians, and medical educators with expertly prepared, safe, and efficacious, human anatomical specimens gifted from donors and donor families participating in our whole body donor program. Agf also serves the donors and their families by providing services relating to the donation process; including, but not limited to: obtaining informed consent / authorization for donation within established legal hierarchy, acquiring vital statistic information for purposes of filing a death certificate, transportation of the deceased from the place of death to our facility, perform cremations and provide ashes to the family (for their memento, internment, scattering), resources regarding grief counseling, etc.

Health , Medical Disciplines Research

Ii. Major accomplishment in 2016: a. Agf maintained its accreditation by the american association of tissue banks (aatb) as a non-transplant donation organization. B. Agf had two additional staff-members become certified tissue bank specialists (ctbs) under aatb in 2016. C. All staff who were due to submit their ctbs ceus to re-certify with aatb in year 2016 have done so and have kept their certification d. Agf maintained its new york license as a non-transplant anatomic bank. E. Agf was inspected by the maryland board of morticians and found to be in compliance with regulations for operating a crematory; as well as for mortuary transporters f. Agf passed all safety and environmental inspections by various entities, i. E. , fire marshall, maryland department of environment (both air & radiation), etc. G. Agf has continued its quality systems; which include regular auditing and reporting of findings. H. Agf has had increases in number of donors and donor families served, increases in types of services provided, and increases in number of clients served; without a net increase in staff numbers. Iii. 2016 statistics: a. Donors 1. There were a total of 1297 donors in 2016 (an increase of 86 donors over 2015) 2. 47% of the donors were from agf's home state of maryland 3. A little over 31% were from neighboring states (a 6% increase over last year) 4. Approximately 22% were from states out of the region; where donor transportation costs are most high. (a 3% decrease over last year) b. Future donors: in 2016, an additional 1157 applicants (representing a 12% increase from 2015) were pre-registered with agf to be future donors (865 being people signing up using first person/willed and 301 future donors needing authorization after death. The breakdown by location was 442 for maryland, 411 regional, and 304 non regional); providing their medical & social information; as well as vital statistics information for death certificates, etc. Many were willed / first-person consent cases; while others (who are not able to make that decision due to noted cognitive disabilities (like dementia, brain tumor with memory problems, etc. ) will require next-of-kin / poa authorization at the time of death. At the conclusion of 2016, agf was maintaining files for a total of 19,213 non- willed future donor cases and willed body donor cases. Some have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and most others are merely planning for a future eventuality. This information is reviewed, cataloged and entered into our database for future retrieval, to assist the families at the time of death. Donor and family services coordinator staff contact our registered future donors every few years to update their medical records and next-of-kin contact information. C. Tissue placement & use: 1. Specimens used on site with our in-house bioskills lab facility: we hosted and provided specimens for 123 lab sessions in 2016, serving hundreds of learners; and represents a 16% increase in the total number of facility users served over 2015. The breakdown by type was: a. Physician / surgeon training: 38 sessions (a 44% increase over 2015%; ) b. Rescue / life-saving / ems training (anatomy and procedure practicum labs: 36 sessions (a 28% increase in last year; and consisting of 28% of all labs conducted - a 2% increase over 2015). 2. Student / anatomy and procedure practicum labs (includes high school level, college level and physician assistant education sessions): with a total of 51 labs in this genre, this remained relatively stable as compared to last year. 3. Specimens sent off-site for use in medical research and education; both domestic and internationally: agr provided services to 235 clients (208 domestic and 27 international clients) in 2016; reflecting a 13% increase in this area over those served in 2015. The increase was entirely in the number of domestic clients. Iv. Program initiatives that assist the organization to meet organizational goals: a. Education