Last week during the 51_st annual Iowa Governors Safety & Health Conference held in Altoona; Jim Silvers was honored.  Jim worked in the safety profession for 35 years in the state of Iowa.  He worked for the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, Iowa Illinois Safety Council, Hach Company, and the Pella Corporation.  He was affiliated with several community-based organizations.

His wife, Maria, and son, Jordan, attended the awards ceremony to remember Jim and his passion for safety and care for others. We lost Jim in January of this year. He was an avid Iowa State University fan since his son went to ISU.   IAMU staff collected funds to offer a one-time $1,000 safety scholarship to an ISU safety student.  Tavion Yrjo was the winner of the scholarship and was very grateful.  He has been working on virtual reality (VR) technology to enhance employee safety, knowledge retention, and risk assessment skills.

Below is a letter from IAMU Safety Coordinator Jim Silvers.

Hello everyone,

This is Jim Silvers. Although I’ve only been a safety coordinator with IAMU for six months, I’ve enjoyed meeting and working with many of you.

I wanted to let you all know that I’ve recently been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease and will need a kidney transplant. Soon, my wife and I will meet with my Transplant Team so they can educate us about the process. After that, they will add me to the kidney transplant registry. Unfortunately, there’s currently a two- to five-year waiting list on the registry for a donor.

In the meantime, the doctor suggested that I reach out to family, friends, fellow church members, coworkers, and others about a live organ donation. My doctor is hoping that I can locate a live donor within six months. That’s where I need help. I need prayers and, hopefully, someone who’s willing to donate a kidney. The doctor said asking for a kidney donation can be a difficult conversation to have with others, so I wanted to let you know about my condition and my need for a kidney donor through this letter. My wife and I are keeping our faith that someone will be a perfect match and able to help.

Please contact me if you want additional information.

I’m so grateful to be a part of the IAMU family, and I appreciate every one of you.

Thanks for your time.

#shareyourspare

Jim can be reached at jsilvers@iamu.org