June 3, 2008

Organ and Tissue Donation

Kathy Hemmelgarn RN, MS who has worked for nearly 20 years with Mercer Health Systems shared a powerpoint program about organ and tissue donation.

Presently, there are about 100K people nationally awaiting donation and unfortunately most have a long time to wait.  As time goes on and life spans are increased and diseases such as obesity and diabetes become more prevalent, the supply is unable to keep pace with the increasing demand.

Organ placement is managed by United Network for Organ Sharing and factors influencing when a recipient can get a donation include match of blood type, height and weight, severity of the condition and geographic location with respect to the donor.  TIme is a factor and depending on the organ, the time from when the organ is harvested to when it is transplanted, there is a limited window of opportunity to keep the organ viable.

In addition to organ donation, tissue of various types can be donated which include skin, bone, veins, heart valves and soft tissue.  One organ donor can impact the lives of up to 8 recipients and tissue donors can help in excess of 50 others in need.

Locally, donations are managed by Life Connection of Ohio (follow this link for their website and more information on becoming a donor).

Hosting Rotarian: David Jarvis