Located in the far northeastern corner of Montana, Plentywood, population 2,000, is a hub for surrounding farms and ranches. It’s the kind of place where the local radio station features lengthy livestock reports and descendants of Scandinavian immigrants can tell you who in town is Danish and who Norwegian, based on the spelling of a neighbor’s name.

Portrait of Plentywood: Leighann Rosemore
(middle), Dennis Sorensen (right) and family.

Only 16 miles from Saskatchewan and a little less than 30 from North Dakota, Plentywood sits on the very edge of the extended three-state “community” that Northwest Tissue Services was established to serve.

Last May, when the Tissue Services worked to complete its first recovery at Sheridan Hospital in Plentywood, both technical and coordinating staff found out just how far a small town was willing to go to support donation, as its hospital and funeral home staff demonstrated—without fanfare—the Plains’ tradition of self-reliance, a strong work ethic, and a commitment to helping neighbors.

Likewise, the Tissue Services showed its continuing commitment to provide the option of donation to as many families as possible, no matter where they live in the state of Montana.

“Nursing in a small town, we know everybody,” explains Becky Halverson, a Plentywood nurse who drove the Tissue Services team to and from the airstrip. “It makes it hard, especially when tragedy strikes. In this case we saw what good could come from it. They told us how many people could be helped.”

“We are so happy to go to places like Plentywood. The desire of Montana families to help others in moments of tragedy inspires us to do our very best for them.”
Candy Wells,
Tissue Services hospital development supervisor

“Often, small rural hospitals feel that their ability to contribute to the donation process is small,” says Jan Hendrix, the Tissue Services’s regional supervisor in Montana. “I always point out that even one donor is significant, not only to the recipients but to the donor family, hospital staff and the community as a whole. One donor can easily help more than 20 people throughout our region.

“It’s been our experience in all of our remote rural hospitals that everyone pulls together to make things work. There is always a feeling of great accomplishment and true teamwork.”

“We are so happy to go to places like Plentywood,” says Tissue Services Hospital Services Supervisor Candy Wells. “The desire of families in Montana to help others in moments of tragedy inspires us to do our very best for them.”

Many Montana residents also want to help fulfill their neighbors’ wishes, regardless of their community’s remote locations. “Geography should not be a limiting factor in a family’s right to choose donation,” says Dave Fulkerson, Plentywood’s only funeral director and Sheridan County coroner.

	Nurse Becky Halverson volunteered to pick up the Tissue Services team.

A wife’s initiative
When Leighann Rosemore’s husband Dennis Sorensen died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm and she brought up her wish to donate, the staff at Sheridan Hospital was ready and willing to help.

“She definitely initiated the donation and then we followed through,” says Beverly Johnson, director of nursing.

“It was a real shock,” says Rosemore, whose husband was 52. “He was healthy. He still played basketball. Dennis’s family is really long lived.”

Rosemore was motivated to donate by personal experience. An occupational therapist, she trained at the University of North Dakota in the anatomy lab. “I remember thinking then what a good thing it was that people are willing to donate, just to give others the chance to learn,” Rosemore explains. Seeing the great benefits of whole-body donation firsthand led her to decide in favor of donating tissue for transplant.

Rosemore discussed the recovery with her 13 and 17-year-old daughters (her son was out of town) and they had no objections. “Both Dennis and I were down for donation on our drivers’ licenses,” she says. “We’d never talked at length about it. But I understand that what’s left isn’t you, it’s just a body. The spirit is gone.”

Sorensen, who owned the local John Deere dealership, loved to fish and read; he’d served on the county’s soil conservation board, and having worked as a carpenter, he enjoyed building and remodeling projects. Through donation, he has been able to help a community much larger than Plentywood.

His wife’s generosity has resulted in the gifts of 39 bone, skin, and soft tissue allografts, which will aid many people suffering debilitating and painful orthopedic injuries and degenerative conditions, and provide a life-saving barrier to infection for burn patients. He also donated both corneas, which already have been transplanted in 47 and 49-year-old males.

	Strong support came from Sheridan Hospital Nursing Supervisor Beverly Johnson (left) and surgical nurse Charlotte Nielsen.

Everyone pitched in
Because there had never been a tissue recovery in Plentywood before, Johnson and other Sheridan Hospital staff had to learn quickly how to proceed. Under the deadline pressure, teamwork was key to the recovery’s success. Halverson, who drives a pickup, volunteered to shuttle the Tissue Services team and its equipment from the airstrip to the hospital and back again.

A surgical nurse came in before her scheduled shift to serve as circulator, while several other nurses stepped in to observe and become familiar with the procurement process. The hospital cafeteria even provided dinner for the Tissue Services staff, along with a sack lunch for the road as they left to complete another recovery in Billings.

“We were all impressed,” says Johnson. “It was such a new experience for us. We have plenty of staff who will do just about anything to help in a situation like this.”

“I was totally impressed with the Tissue Services crew,” says Charlotte Nielsen, the surgical nurse who circulated. “They explained what they were doing. Their professionalism and efficiency was wonderful.”

Becky Halverson adds, “It was really a learning experience. It was really neat to see.”

Problem-solving under pressure
Hospital and funeral home staff also played key roles in solving a logistical problem vital to the donation’s success—how to keep Sorensen’s body cooled until the recovery team arrived by charter flight. “Like a lot of rural hospitals, we have no cooling. Neither does the local mortuary,” explains Johnson.

Filling in for Plentywood funeral home director Dave Fulkerson, who was out of town, Shawn Brooke already had his hands full managing six funerals.

“You just know when you’re doing surgery you’re helping one person. When you’re doing this [donation], you’re helping many people.”
–Charlotte Nielsen,
Sheridan Hospital surgical nurse

“I like to treat every family as if they are the only family in town,” he says of an especially difficult task during hectic times. Impressed by how deeply Rosemore supported donation, he quickly improvised a cooling method.

The Tissue Services follows stricter post-mortem recovery deadlines than even the American Association of Tissue Bank standards require. According to Tissue Services policies and procedures, the donor must be cooled within six hours to extend the time to recovery to 24 hours. The recovery fell well within that limit, but it would not have been possible without Brooke’s quick thinking and the care and concern of hospital staff.

Commitment to donation
In a small town, the personal connections deepened the commitment to donation—hospital staff knew Sorensen—but “I would have done it for a total stranger,” says Nielsen. She compares her experience to working with patients in surgery. “You just know when you’re doing surgery you’re helping one person. When you’re doing this [donation], you’re helping many people.”

Adds Halvorsen, “I know I’m going to donate my organs and tissues because of this experience. Hopefully, our paths will cross again and we’ll be able to help out with another donation.”