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Washington County Medical Examiner's Office honored for tissue-donation work
Summary
The Washington County Public Safety Committee heard recognition of the Medical Examiner's Office by the American Tissue Services Foundation, which presented a teardrop award and cited high local donor-registration rates and hundreds of lives affected by donations.
The Washington County Public Safety Committee on March 2025 recognized the Washington County Medical Examiner's Office for tissue-donation work after the American Tissue Services Foundation presented the office with its teardrop award.
The recognition highlighted local registration rates and the downstream impact of donations. "So my name is Joyce Kratz from American Tissue Services Foundation, and thank you very much for giving me this time, this morning to talk about the recognition that the, Washington County Medical Examiner's Office has received from our office," said Joyce Kratz of the American Tissue Services Foundation. Kratz said the foundation presented a teardrop award "for the recognition of tissue donation efforts by the Washington County Medical Examiner's Office." She added, "It's my distinct honor to present this award to the Washington County Medical Examiner's office, under the leadership of Debbie Stadola."
Kratz cited state donor-registry statistics and local rates. She said that in Wisconsin, 57 percent of people age 15 and older have made a donor designation, and that Washington County's registry rate exceeds 61 percent among residents age 15 and older. Kratz said the county's medical-examiner referrals resulted in donations that impacted "over 675 individuals" and noted that a single tissue donor can affect 75 or more lives, with tissue gifts viable for up to five years.
Committee members applauded the office and the foundation's presentation. The committee's public-safety chair and others thanked Medical Examiner Debbie Stadola and staff for their work facilitating donations and supporting donor families.
Kratz and committee members emphasized the long-term, multi-year benefit of tissue gifts and the county's comparatively high donor-registration rate as reasons for the honor.
The recognition was presented during the committee's public-safety meeting; no formal action or vote on policy or funding related to the award was recorded in the transcript.
