Family Advocate

Organization Overview:

Our organization is dedicated to transforming lives and inspiring all to donate life. We are a family of professionals working together to increase awareness around the need for organ and tissue donors alongside nurturing and guiding our families throughout the gift of life. We facilitate the recovery of organs, tissues, and corneas in Iowa. We honor donors and support donor families at the time of donation and on a continuing basis.

We believe in going above and beyond to support donor families during and after the donation process. Our core values are what guide us, allow us to excel at serving our community, and keep our culture at Iowa Donor Network alive.

Have you been searching for an opportunity to be part of something bigger than yourself, make a tremendous contribution to your community, and pursue a mission to save lives daily? If so, Iowa Donor Network could be just the organization you have been looking for.

We offer a competitive compensation package including:

• Competitive Salary
• Liberal Paid Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• Health, Vision, Dental, and Pet Insurance
• 401K Match
• Student Loan & College Savings Match
• Tuition Reimbursement for Continuing Education
• On-site, Hybrid, and Remote work opportunities based on role requirements

Job Title: Family Advocate

Location: Altoona, Iowa

Employment Type: Full-Time

Exemption Status: Non-Exempt

Schedule: 10 (24-hour) shifts per month, 12 weekend days per quarter, 3 Donor Family Care events per year (outside of regular on-call shifts), as well as 3 holiday shifts per year.

Hours: 8am-8am CST

Salary: Starting at $57,300 - $71,600

*Iowa Donor Network determines final compensation based on education, experience, and skills relevant to the position.

Position Overview:

This position supports donor families through organ and tissue donation in the hospital setting, and with ongoing grief and bereavement support after donation is complete. Support is provided remotely and onsite in the hospital setting. Daily activities include collaboration with IDN clinical team members, donor family members, interdisciplinary medical team and other essential stakeholders. Performance is measured by the satisfaction of the care provided to our donor families.

Qualifications:

• Requires a four-year degree in the areas of Social Services, Psychology, Family Services, Child Life, Counseling or other healthcare related field.
• A minimum of two years of equivalent work experience involving complex family dynamics, such as death and dying, grief and loss or supporting families in the hospital setting is preferred.

Essential Functions and Performance Responsibilities:

• Responsible for collaborating with the donor family by continually assessing family needs, establishing rapport and communicating with families to independently advocate for the needs of the family while simultaneously advocating for the donation process.
• Oversee timely and respectful communication and collaboration with interdisciplinary medical team, donor families, and IDN team members.
• Ensure excellence in continuum of care for donor families, including grief support, donor family correspondence with recipients, donor family events, and donor family support groups.
• Participate in scheduled monthly meetings, process improvement, and quality assurance activities within the work system and organization.

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to build rapport quickly in stressful situations with a diverse audience.
• Deliver health education suitable for all literacy levels.
• Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to prioritize needs.
• Exercise judgement in donation advocacy, crucial to the outcome of the case.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to function well in a high-paced and at times stressful environment.
• Demonstrates strong autonomy in decision making.

Physical Requirements:

• Maintain a current valid driver’s license and be insurable through IDN’s insurance.
• Respond to call/page within 10 minutes and arrive to office/hospital within one hour of call as appropriate.
• Travel to the office and donor hospitals through the State of Iowa at any given hour of the day or night. This travel may occur under various weather conditions.
• Must be able to lift up to 20 pounds at times.
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must respond timely to IDN communication outside of scheduled shifts.
• Must receive required vaccines based on outlined schedules to protect our employees, healthcare personnel, donors, recipients, and families we may come into contact. (e.g., Influenza obtained annually by December 1st.)

Organizational Responsibilities:

• It is required that IDN employees demonstrate commitment to the mission and vision, maintain effective communication, exhibit teamwork, respect diversity, follow policies and procedures, maintain confidentiality of all donor, recipient and organizational information, demonstrate accuracy and thoroughness while meeting productivity standards, observe safety and security procedures, be consistently punctual and dependable, actively participate in performance improvement activities and continually demonstrate behavioral expectations and core values.
• Employee’s obligation to maintain the confidentiality of information shall survive the termination of employee’s employment with IDN.
• All requirements are subject to modifications to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed in this position. I will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by my supervisor. Requirements are representative of minimum levels of knowledge, skills and/or abilities. To perform this job successfully, I know that I must possess the abilities or aptitudes to perform each duty proficiently. I realize neither the job description nor this document creates an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” employment relationship.