Stories & Memorials

Family Support Team

Volunteer Family Support Team

Area women who have each faced the death of a child and made the decision to donate their organs for transplantation are members of UNYTS' family support team. These staffers provide counseling and support to other families confronted with similar tragic circumstances.

Members of the team are: Family Services Manager Darlene Aymerich, whose daugher Shannon Miller died in an automobile accident in 1992; Family Support Coordinator Stacie Pickel, whose son Jason died in an automobile accident in 2000; and Family Services Counselor Kathleen Kaufman.

These individuals truly understand what the potential donor's family is going through. Their own experience makes them uniquely qualified to comfort and console, to offer information, and to help the family in any way possible, whether obtaining dinner or wrapping a warm blanket around the shoulders of a grieving parent. The team's primary goal is to ensure that families are supported appropriately in their decision making process, no matter what they choose.