Wilson Funeral Home owner Jarrett Wilson, left, and General Manager Jerry Fiutem, right, are proud of Funeral Director Kathy Gazzola for receiving the Funeral Home Champion Award for her support of the family of an organ donor. T-L Photo/ JOSIE BURKHART

BRIDGEPORT — Kathy Gazzola, funeral director at Wilson Funeral Home in Bridgeport, received an award for her work involving an organ donor and family member who was overseas.

The honor came at Lifeline of Ohio’s Champions of Hope Gala in October at the Hilton Columbus – Easton in Columbus. A person submitted an award nomination for Gazzola that read: “Kathy was extremely professional and helpful the entire time keeping donation in mind every step of the way.”

Gazzola attended the event that drew around 400 guests who celebrated individuals and organizations for the work they do during organ, eye, tissue and placenta donation. She described the event as amazing, having several speakers and the opportunity to hear about all of the people who benefited from a man’s selflessness as a result of him donating his organs after not surviving a heart attack.

“There’s a whole other dimension out there that really helps,” Gazzola said.

During the event, Gazzola accepted the Funeral Home Champion award for the support she offered when working with an organ donor’s family.

“This event is a special reminder of the incredible collaboration throughout the donation process,” Lifeline of Ohio CEO Andrew Mullins said. “We are so pleased to be able to honor our partners for the important roles they play from registration of the donation decision to caring for our donors and families, recipients and patients waiting for their life saving gifts.”

Gazzola’s recognition came after the Bridgeport funeral home made arrangements for a man who died and was an organ donor. The funeral home helped to get permission from the man’s son, who was based overseas in Germany, for the donation to take place. Gazzola said it took several hours going back and forth trying to get his permission.

Although the deceased man was an organ donor, the funeral home still had to reach out to Lifeline of Ohio to get verbal confirmation that it could proceed with the donation process.

According to Lifeline of Ohio, one person’s donations can save up to 28 lives.

Since the man was already deceased, Lifeline could not take his heart, lungs or kidneys; however, it was able to take the long bones, including bones in the arms to do bone marrow transplants, and corneas from the eyes for cornea transplants. Skin and tissue underneath can also be donated from a person who is already deceased and will help burn victims via skin grafts.

Organ donation usually can only occur if an individual is in the hospital on a ventilator, according to funeral home owner Jarrett Wilson. This applies to donations of vital organs, such as lungs, kidneys or heart.

A nominating committee decided which funeral home directors would be awarded. Gazzola was selected out of about 100 other funeral directors who were in the running to be honored.

“I’m humbled,” she said. “I’m just doing my job. So it’s important, it’s vital, that when we get the call and you do have a family that’s an organ donor, donor family, that we work with them and we work with Lifeline, because you are saving lives. Even through death, there is life that comes.”

Gazzola said having a working relationship with Lifeline is important because she has to assure families of organ donors about the whole process and give them the right information.

Wilson added that what’s important from the funeral home’s perspective is that Gazzola went above and beyond, advocating on behalf of that loved one for the donation because of his distance from his father’s place of death.

When Gazzola received the nomination, she said she couldn’t believe it, feeling humbled and overwhelmed and like she was just doing her job.

Gazzola has only been a licensed funeral director for a year after working as a teacher for 35 years.

Wilson said such support is something he and his team can bring to a family in a time of loss. He stressed that for Gazzola to win the award after being a director for just one year shows the funeral home’s commitment to the families it serves.

“Especially for a new funeral director, again, we use the above and beyond before, but for her to bring something else in addition to the funeral. What we do at the funeral home, in addition to helping other people, which is the most important thing, and how the loved one could do that, it’s not only satisfying for Kathy, but it’s satisfying for the surviving family,” Wilson said.

Wilson and General Manager Jerry Fiutem were both proud that Gazzola went above and beyond for the family.

“I couldn’t have done this whole change without the mentoring of Jerry,” she said. “And Jerry, the wealth of information, there’s a lot that goes into it, and this just isn’t a field for everyone to get into.”

Gazzola said she will sometimes sit and cry with a family as a funeral director because she can’t help but react to the emotions tey are experiencing. So receiving the award was special for her.

“I think that shows the humility of us,” she said. “That this just isn’t a business for me. I look at it as for 35 years, God had me helping children and then he put this in front of me, and I thought, ‘Can I?’ And now I look at it as I’m helping families now. I’m humbled.”

Founded in 1984, Lifeline of Ohio is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes and coordinates the donation of human organs and tissue for transplantation. Lifeline of Ohio serves 97 hospitals and facilities in 38 counties in Ohio and two in West Virginia and is designated as an organ procurement organization through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“Thanks to the generosity of donors throughout Lifeline of Ohio’s service area, in 2023, the donation decision of 182 organ donor heroes and their families was honored, saving the lives of 445 people,” the organization states in a release. “In addition, 1,004 donor heroes gave the gift of healing through tissue and cornea donation, and 588 people made the decision to donate their placentas to create thousands of healing tissue grafts.”

For more information about organ, eye, tissue and placenta donation, visit lifelineofohio.org.