Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office Partners With LOPA To Offer Hope & Healing Through Tissue Donation

East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark, M.D. highlighted its partnership with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) during today’s release of his office’s 2023 annual report. 

While most coroner’s offices throughout the state work with LOPA to offer families the opportunity to help save and enhance the lives of others through tissue donation, the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office continues to provide more referrals than any other parish. Since taking office in 2012, Dr. Clark has honored over 650 individual donor heroes and their families through the gifts of tissue and eye donation. 

“It has been my mission to work to educate our community on preventable deaths such as overdoses and unsafe sleeping for infants. Unfortunately, we cannot always prevent deaths, but I believe that out of death can come life,” Dr. Clark said. 

Joan Robinson’s daughter, Alexis, was killed by a drunk driver in 2021. Alexis was a 17-year-old high school senior and captain of her volleyball team at Scotlandville High School when she died.

Robinson said she did not hesitate to say “yes” to donation at the hospital. “Alexis had an unrivaled spirit that soared beyond the complexities of her high school life,” she said. “I am comforted by the fact that she lives on in the lives of four recipients.”

Heart recipient Sheryl Armstrong also spoke at the press conference, expressing her gratitude for her donor hero whose decision gave her a life she never thought she’d be able to lead.

The First Lady at New St. Luke Baptist Church, Armstrong said one of her greatest blessings is to be able to advocate for donation, particularly in the African American community, where there is the greatest need. “I think God allowed this to happen to me so that I could share my story. To say, ‘Hey, sign up!’ The more people who become donors, the more people like me will get a second chance at life,” she said. 

Almost 2,000 people in Louisiana are currently on the waiting list for a life saving organ. One organ donor can save up to eight lives. One tissue donor can save and enhance more than 75 lives. Louisianians can register to be a donor at the OMV, online through LOPA.org or via LA Wallet.

ABOUT LOPA

As the organ procurement organization for Louisiana, we help save lives, restore health and enhance medical care through organ and tissue donation. We are a nonprofit that services our state’s diverse community by supporting families through tragic loss, during the donation process, and along their grief journey. Our team is passionate about sharing the impact of donation and educating professionals and the community. For our media kit and additional resources, visit www.lopa.org/media.