Book of Life displayed in Australian Library

Book encourages people to donate organs and tissues

northernstar.com

AMONG the treasures on the shelves of Lismore Library is a new kind of book.

The Book of Life, which was launched at the Library last week, has been put started by organ donation organization DonateLife and is designed to receive stories as much as it is to tell them.

Dr Mike Lindley Jones, transplant recipient Louise Owen, Mayor Jenny Dowell, Librarian Lucy Kinsley, Mary Campbell.
The book aims to encourage people to choose, when they die, to "donate" their life to someone else and also to explain the impact those who donate organs have had.

"Having the Book of Life displayed in the Lismore Library will help raise community awareness for people to discuss their donation wishes with family and friends close to them," DonateLife said in a statement.

"The personal stories included in the book have paid tribute to the generosity of organ and tissue donors and their families and have helped acknowledge the second chance of life by recipients living in our region."

DonateLife says NSW is tracking well to meet its record 2010 increase in organ donations and organ transplant surgery.

As of August, Australia's organ donation rate was 15% higher than the same period in 2010 (231 organ donors compared to 201 organ donors at August 2010) and the nation's organ transplant rate is 14% higher than the same period in 2010 (711 organs transplanted compared to 624 organs transplanted at August 2010).

DonateLife NSW state medical director Dr Robert Herkes thanked NSW organ donors and their families for their generosity.

"I know that organ and tissue donation occurs at a very difficult time for families," he said.

"The increase in organ and tissue donors and transplantation means that many more people were able to receive life saving transplants and a second chance at life."

Speaking at the Book of Life launch, Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell encouraged Northern Rivers residents to "contribute their stories, pictures and experiences of organ and tissue donation".

"The contributions that this book will collect over the coming year will showcase the best of the human spirit and how that spirit of generosity saves lives," she said.

"Most importantly, the DonateLife Book of Life will encourage people to discuss organ and tissue donation with their families," Mayor Dowell said.

The Book of Life will collect contributions - stories, poems, pictures and experiences - about organ and tissue donation, transplantation and about waiting for a transplant.

The book will is travelling around NSW this year.

It will become part of a national collection and will be donated to the State Library of NSW and National Library in DonateLife Week 2012.

Northern NSW Local Health District organ and tissue clinical nurse specialist Mary Campbell said her team was able to work with families from any culture to work through organ and tissue donation.

"We provide support for families before, during and long after donation occurs. Families tell us that donation is a very positive outcome for them at this time of their great personal loss," Ms Campbell said.

The book and information brochures will be on display until Friday, January 27, at Lismore Library.

“You Have the Power to Donate Life – to become an organ and tissue donor Sign-up today!
Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

New Zealand, register at Organ Donation New Zealand

Canada - Ontario beadonor.ca
other Canadian provinces

South Africa, http://www.odf.org.za/

United States, organdonor.gov

United Kingdom, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You.

Largest Organ & Tissue Donation Event in US Saturday April 30th - 7 am - Cal State Fullerton

Donate Life California has impressed me over the years with their outstanding initiatives to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation. Further to their implementation of an on-line donor registry in 2004, 8,185,109 people have signed up to be a donor. (As of Apr. 22, 2011, 10:06am PT)

For this event I'm posting the full press release for the benefit of all, including the media.

LARGEST ORGAN and TISSUE DONATION EVENT in U.S.

NINTH ANNUAL DONATE LIFE RUN/WALK & FAMILY FESTIVAL 7:00 AM, SAT., APRIL 30, CAL STATE FULLERTON
More than 9,000 Southlanders Join to Inspire Organ, Tissue, Eye Donation

What: More than 9,000 Southlanders, supported by area businesses and transplant centers, join together at the Donate Life Run/Walk & Family Festival, the largest Donate Life-themed community event in the nation, to inspire Californians to be organ and tissue donors. The event caps April’s National Donate Life Month with a morning program featuring 19 Orange County mayors, city council members and civic leaders walking with constituent families, a 75-vendor family festival, and health screenings. The opening ceremony includes emotional tributes and a dramatic release of doves by donor family members and transplant recipients. Performing onstage will be American Idol season nine finalists Katie Stevens and Tim Urban and Grammy award-winning pop/R&B group All-4-One, who created a song inspired in part by the founders of the Donate Life Run/Walk Kathleen and Craig Hostert. Proceeds from the event will support Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry enrollment campaigns.

When: Sat., April 30, 2011, 7:00 am – Registration opens
• 8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. - Opening ceremony with keynote speakers and lighting of Flame of Life
• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. - Run/Walk
• 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Family Health Festival

Who: Keynote speakers include Ann Lopez, kidney donor to her husband, comedian George Lopez; Max Zapata, Clovis, a good Samaritan living kidney donor who kicked off a 10-person kidney chain in 2009 that was featured on CBS; Craig Hostert, event co-founder and kidney recipient (from his wife, Kathleen); A. Thomas Bender, San Juan Capistrano, kidney recipient (from his daughter, Cindee) and chairman of the board of Cooper Companies; Mayor Don Bankhead, Fullerton; and Roger Weninger, Managing Partner, Moss Adams, LLP, presenting sponsor; and special guest Phillip Palmer, ABC7 and living kidney donor.

Hundreds of teams with some 4,000 participants – each wearing a t-shirt and button featuring photos of loved ones who gave life in their passing – organized by family members of organ and tissue donors, as well as teams celebrating transplant recipients, transplant candidates and supporting business entities, including:

• Celebrating Scott Davis (Huntington Beach) – Nearly 200 people honor 19-year-old Scott, who donated five organs and tissue after a fatal skateboarding accident;
·
• Team Vons – 333 employees representing four local districts of Vons supermarkets in memory of store manager Keith Walton, who became an organ donor after suffering a fatal stroke;
·
• In Honor of Conor (Sherman Oaks) – Honors 16-year-old Conor Lloyd Lynch, who died from a hit-and-run while running with his cross-country team from Notre Dame High School;
·
• Team Bryan (Ontario) – More than 100 people honor 22-year-old donor Bryan Morales;
·
• Team Ortega (La Habra) – In support of Ed Ortega, who has participated in every Run/Walk despite being on dialysis and finally received a new kidney in March after eight years on the kidney transplant list;
·
• Team Messiah (Yorba Linda) – Messiah Lutheran Church Pastor Bob Mooney (tissue recipient), volunteer Heather Thommen (three-time liver recipient), and congregants from the OC church, honor the gift of life and nine-month old Jack Dunavan, a heart recipient;
·
• Team Brice Fabing Paragon 4 Life (Lompoc) – Honors 17-year-old Brice Fabing, whose heart recipient Jim Stavis (Calabasas), will be walking with the Fabing family for the first time;
·
• Transplant professionals and employees from event sponsors St. Joseph Hospital Kidney Transplant Program, Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, St. Vincent Medical Center, and UCI Transplant Center;
·
• Nineteen mayors and city council members from Orange County cities including Azusa, Barstow, Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, La Habra, Laguna Woods, Orange, Orange County, Pomona, Placentia, Santa Ana, Villa Park, Westminster constituent donor family members and transplant recipients;
• Yorba Linda walking with Moss Adams LLP, presenting sponsor of the Run/Walk; W. L. Butler Construction, Inc.; Vons; and Donate Life media partners CBS Radio and Orange Coast Magazine.

Where: Intramural Field at Cal State University Fullerton campus
800 State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92831
[Media should go directly to “Media Check-In” – Park in VIP section with identification]

Photo Opportunities: ·
• Lighting of Flame of Life torch honoring donors, recipients and transplant candidates on waiting lists;
·
• Circle of Life Garden with more than 100 photo-bearing signs honoring donors and recipients;
·
• Opening of eight baskets of doves in memory of loved ones, including two former Orange County mayors, both liver recipients – Bill Lentini (Brea) and Greg Sowards (Placentia);
·
• Return of 13 floragraphs to families of donors who were featured on the 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade float
• Contact: Elena de la Cruz, (213) 479-4704, edelacruz@onelegacy.org
  Rivian Bell or Lisa Bernfeld, JDI Communications, (310) 592-8423 or (888) 477-4329 (24/7),
  rlb@abmac.com or lbernfeld@jdipr.com

For more event information, visit www.donateliferunwalk.org

For information about the Donate Life California Registry, visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or,
in Spanish, www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today!
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Organs donated thanks to Facebook

This story from Israel further emphasizes the power of Facebook as mentioned in my previsous post and the potential this social networking site has for increasing organ donation. The more that I see of Facebbok's capabilities I can understand how it has already slightly overtaken Google as the web's most popular site. Joining is easy: facebook.com

Hilla Abramson. Saved four lives Photo courtesy of family

While Hilla Abramson, 32, lay in a hospital bed suffering from brain death, her parents discovered she was a fan of ADI* group on her Facebook account and decided to donate her organs. Four patients now begin their new life thanks to Hill
*Israel's National Transplant and Organ Donation Center (Adi)

by Dr. Itay Gal Israel Activism

Four organ transplants were carried out at the Rabin and Schneider medical centers in Petah Tikva last weekend thanks to a donation made by the family of a 32-year-old deceased woman.

The family agreed to donate the organs after the woman's parents discovered that she was a fan of the ADI organization, which advocates organ donations, on her Facebook account.

Hilla Abramson, a social worker from the central city of Kiryat Ono, suffered from juvenile diabetes since the age of six. Due to the circumstances, she was certain that her organs would not be suitable for donation and therefore did not sign an ADI card, but was a fan of the ADI page on Facebook.

About two weeks ago, Hilla experienced a sharp drop in her blood sugar level. As a result, she lost consciousness and suffered cardiac arrest. She was rushed to the intensive care unit at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where she was hospitalized for a week. It was clear to the doctors that she was suffering from irreversible brain death.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

ONELEGACY HELPED TO SAVE AND HEAL MORE THAN 100,000 LIVES IN 2009

Congratulations to OneLegacy of California for their outstanding achievement in organ and tissue donation and transplantation in 2009. What is really impressive is the state donor registry having enrolled more than six million registered donors since opening in 2005 with 30,000 joining each week.

Leads Nation with 1,182 Recovered Organs Transplanted from 382 Donors; Nearly 2,400 Organ and Tissue Donors Benefit 100,000

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 19, 2010 – OneLegacy, the non-profit, federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization serving the seven-county greater Los Angeles area, announced the recovery of nearly 2,400 combined organ and tissue donors in 2009 which helped to save and heal more than 100,000 lives in Southern California and other U.S. regions.

Working in concert with more than 200 hospital partners, OneLegacy coordinated the recovery of 1,182 transplanted organs from 382 donors in 2009. OneLegacy also achieved its highest-ever organ donation consent rate of 69 percent, up two points from last year and 12 points from 2005.

“Less than 10 years ago, only half of families approached in hospitals gave consent for donation. Now, a full two-thirds of the families elect donation when given the chance to do so,” said Tom Mone, CEO and executive vice president at OneLegacy. “This upward trend is especially important given that we have been experiencing a downward trend in the number of possible donors. That makes every donation opportunity even more important – and every ‘yes’ that much more precious.”

Registered donors and families continued to support tissue donation in 2009, with a record 2,014 donors offering skin used for burn dressings, bone to repair fractures and to prevent amputation, heart valves to repair life-threatening defects, tendons to repair major knee injuries, veins for cardiac bypass surgery, and corneas to end blindness. More than 1,000 donors of corneas gave sight to 1,381 people in need.

“Most tissue recovered by OneLegacy returns to our area for medical procedures,” said Mone. “Given that corneas, bone and skin from a single donor can save and heal up to 50 people, we are proud to contribute to the wellness of so many in our diverse communities.”

Notably, through the first three quarters of 2009, approximately one in seven organ and tissue donors recovered by OneLegacy were registered donors who had signed up with the Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry prior to death. The state donor registry, which is co-managed by OneLegacy and the state’s three other organ recovery agencies, has enrolled more than six million registered donors since opening in 2005, with 30,000 joining each week.

“Thanks to the generosity of donors and their families, and the skill of healthcare professionals, waiting lists for all organs except kidneys are static or declining, while tissue donation is meeting our community’s needs,” said Mone. “However, the need for donated organs and tissues is ongoing, and we will continue to ensure that donor families and transplant recipients, their families and our community as a whole, benefit from the gift of organ, eye and tissue donation.”

OneLegacy is the non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation in the seven-county greater Los Angeles area. With more than 200 hospitals, 12 transplant centers and a diverse population of 19 million, OneLegacy is the largest organ and tissue recovery organization in the world.

Those wishing to make the commitment to donate may register online at http://www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or its Spanish-language counterpart, http://www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org. For more information, call OneLegacy at (800) 786-4077 or visit http://www.onelegacy.org.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.