June 12, 2007

Tracy Williams - Life Connection of Ohio

Tracy Williams of Life Connection of Ohio addressed the club about organ donation and drove home the point to all in attendance that 'you have the power to save lives' through organ donation.  Life Connection is one of 58 organ recovery agencies across the country.

Tracy shared that there are currently about 100K patients in need of transplants.  The increase in demand in partly a result of an increase in medical technology.  About 17 people die each day in need of a transplant where every 13 minutes, a new potential recipient is added to the list.  Another influence on the limited supply is that only 5% of the people who die are potential donors.  Requirements include that the donor be legally declared dead by brain death, that they be on artificial respiratory ventilation and that they have a beating heart.

The process for organ placement is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.  Criteria for selection of a recipient at any given time is based on size, blood type, level of sickness, location of the patient and how long they have been on the list.

In addition to organ donation, tissue and cornea donation is also possible.  Organs that can be donated include heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, small intestine and kidneys.  Tissue donation includes skin, bone, veins, heart valves and soft tissue.  In addition to the cornea, the sclera and whole eye can potentially be used to help a recipient restore sight.

A single donor can potentially save up to 7 lives whereas 3-5 is typical.  Tissue donations can help up to 50 recipients and corneal or eye donations normally help 2.

Tracy addressed common myths about donations.  In reality, they have no impact on the ability to have a traditional funeral, there is no upset in medical treatment for the donor, there is no cost to the donor family and all major religious groups in the US support donation.  Life Connections of Ohio handles the costs for Ohio donations.

In Ohio, potential donors can be put on the list through DMV records or by going on line to the Ohio Donor Registry at www.donatelifeohio.org. 

Hosting Rotarian: Kristen Hough