Emily Larimer, a donation liaison representing Western South Dakota at LifeSource, is a firm believer in the saying ‘For it is in giving that we receive.’ “When we give as a mentor, we also receive,” she says. “When we receive mentoring, we also give. Thus, a full circle.” She puts this firm belief into practice as a financial supporter of The Alliance Mentorship Program.
This Giving Tuesday, November 28, your financial contribution can directly support The Alliance’s efforts toward mentorship and professional development across the donation and transplantation professional community. The Alliance offers a broad portfolio of learning and professional development programs, including a cost-free Mentorship Program. Year-round matching is available for mentorship pairs and nearly 900 pairs have been matched and supported by The Alliance during the past five years.
“The people on the waiting list motivate me to support The Alliance’s mentorship program,” says Larimer. “The Alliance is vital to leading this collaboration and additionally, The Alliance’s resources have been very important to me. I’ve gone to the website so many times to find information on brain death determination, DCD guidelines, and most recently on the innovation of donor care units. These resources, along with webinars, are pertinent to the opportunities we walk out as OPOs. Through The Alliance we’re actively learning best practices.”
Larimer is a ‘Donor Mom;’ her youngest child, Nehemiah, died in 2015 as the result of a scooter accident. “After he was declared brain dead, we were thoughtfully updated that Nehemiah had checked the box on his driver’s license to be a donor,” says Larimer. “It was during a cascade of emotions and earnest prayers for a miracle, that we first met LifeSource, our upper Midwest region’s OPO. We were guided by these significant individuals, alongside the support of our community hospital’s care team, through the organ and eye donation process. The following year, pondering that our son had saved four lives through organ donation and two women had received sight through his gift of corneas, we met Miah’s liver recipient, Jay Boekhoff from Apple Valley, Minnesota. That meeting is difficult to describe. There is so much meaning. I decided during this pivotal meet up, if there was a way to give back through my experience for LifeSource in western South Dakota, I would say yes.” In May 2017, she joined LifeSource. She stays in touch with Jay and shares in his joys and gratitude associated with his extended life, including the addition of three grandchildren since his transplant.
Since childhood, Larimer has been guided by significant mentors. Her mother and father were her first mentors. “My mother impacted us in our faith in God and to hold us to a precept of respect. My dad mentored as a real giver — he consistently gifted his time and talent and enjoyed others’ success.” A youth group leader and an Honor Society teacher soon followed as Larimer’s mentors.
Beyond her childhood mentors, Larimer says she has benefitted from mentors throughout her career and has participated in formal mentorship programs. “As I pivot around each juncture of my life’s path, it brings joy to mentor. To pay it forward for another’s confidence.”
After graduating from Bethel University in 1989, Larimer joined the U.S. Army Reserve and served as an intelligence analyst for four years. In 2006, she graduated from South Dakota State University, where she attended nursing school as a non-traditional student as the mother of three young children. She interned at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Black Hills Health Care System (BHHCS) and was assigned a nurse as a mentor/preceptor. “She nurtured me, showed appreciation at my learning, and I thrived. We found mutual alignment in honoring veterans through nursing care.”
In 2010, she received an MSN and joined the BHHCS Education Department. A long line of important mentoring occurred during her time with the VA; a nurse manager served as her mentor and instilled her with confidence as a bedside nurse. As a clinical educator at BHHCS, her supervision mentored her healthcare investments as she joined the BHHCS Ethics Committee and the Nursing Practice Council, facilitated Franklin Covey trainings, and completed a LEAN project through the LEAD program. In that program, she had a formal mentor assigned to her.
When she joined LifeSource, she was immediately assigned a preceptor from Eastern South Dakota, Cary Wencil. Cary had been with LifeSource for years and had covered the OPO territory Emily was taking over. They met in person for two days and then set up weekly meetings by phone to discuss challenges and consider solutions. “His time and talent were invaluable for me to grow in a role to lead for the mission of donation,” she says. “His mentoring, consistent and trustworthy.”
Larimer also expresses gratitude for the support and encouragement provided by The Alliance’s late Glenn Matsuki, who helped her prepare for her presentation at The Alliance’s 2019 National Donor Management Summit, “Dual Perspectives on Organ Donation.” “Glenn led me through a jumble of emotional notes leading up to presenting for the first time formally. So many faces of leaders throughout the U.S. hospitals and OPOs were present that day. Experts in their fields of donation and transplantation. Listening to me with gracious eyes. My aim, to express my gratitude for each of them and their callings to save lives. Glenn’s offer to meet with me felt like a present from heaven. A mentoring present. He shared, in moments of awe, on US General Surgeon Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu’s donation story. I gained through this mentoring, a unique perspective and grew from it.” Larimer has since gone on to present at several webinars and conferences.
In 2023, The Alliance introduced The Glenn Matsuki Excellence in Mentorship Award, which celebrates the life and legacy of Matsuki. The first recipient of the award was Brandon Williams, director of organizational outcomes and quality at LifeSource, and a volunteer in The Alliance’s Mentorship Program.
Larimer has also served as a mentor. “At the VA, I was a mentor for nursing students, and coordinated preceptorships for several nursing schools,” she says. She was a formal mentor in the LEAD program at BHHCS and at LifeSource. “At LifeSource, we have had a neat onboarding preceptor process. The structure for the LifeSource onboarding includes leading with colleagues on key topic presentations and then each seasoned Donation Liaison is assigned a new colleague for consistent meeting times to offer support, empowerment, while upholding LifeSource’s values of respect, innovation, advocacy, life, and accountability.” She hopes to participate in the Alliance’s mentorship program in 2024.
“LifeSource has also empowered us to grow in our professional development,” continues Larimer. With LifeSource’s support in 2019, she joined the Nurses Organization of Veteran Affairs (NOVA) where she envisions the tremendous potential of growing donation between the VHA and the OPOs. “The VA has a strong impact on the transplant side and there are VA transplant centers with amazing outcomes. On the donor side, I believe, there is more opportunity for strengthening. And this is my passion–for Veterans to understand the hope of donation. And for Veteran families to experience the hope that is donation in those moments where an end-of-life decision has been made following a grave prognosis. I want to continue to work towards this.”
Larimer lives in Rapid City, SD with her husband, Kayne. Their daughter resides in Nevada and their son lives nearby in South Dakota.
“Invest in mentoring. Mentorships offer strength and empowerment, especially in the high-stakes field of organ donation and transplantation, where lives are being saved,” concludes Larimer.
You can read more about Larimer’s inspiring personal story on LifeSource’s website, https://www.life-source.org/latest/meet-our-team-emily-larimer/.
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