Organ transplant – Track2Training

Donor Sabbath invites faith leaders to encourage organ donation – Jagwire — **GIVE THANKS,GIVE LIFE**

Each year, National Donor Sabbath is observed two weekends before Thanksgiving Day, from November 12 to November 14 this year. The concept behind this day is to unite the different people of different religions, while learning how to save a life by donating vital organs to those in need. America is a land of great diversity — there are people from different races, backgrounds, and nations. There may be huge differences in their lifestyles and ideas, but one thing all these people have in common is belief in humanity or human kindness. National Donor Sabbath is a three-day observance of prayers, worship, and coming together of the leaders of different faiths to participate in services, programs, and initiatives. Time is taken to talk about the importance and public need of saving lives through organ and tissue donation. Organ donations transfers life to others via transplantation so that the recipient has the chance of a full, long life, free of diseased organs such as kidneys, hearts, and even eyes. These organs are donated by the families of loved ones who pass away in accidents and the like, with their organs intact, thus giving people with organ problems a second chance in life.

HISTORY

The National Donor Sabbath spreads awareness on the topic of organ donations. The concept of organ donations comes from a century old goal of healing patients and saving lives by transplanting organs from a donor to a recipient. Starting off as a minor side study pursuit, it soon began to expand as cases of people needing organ transplant started surfacing. In 1906, doctors were able to perform the first ever successful cornea transplant in a patient who was completely blind in one eye. This proved to be a major milestone in the history of organ transplant and paved the way for future transplant to happen. As medical advancements were made, doctors started performing effective transplants of lungs, liver, kidney, bone marrow and other vital organs from deceased donors.

By 1968, the first initiative to register donors and give them a donor card was made under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. This led to the first-ever observance of the National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, which is dedicated to spreading awareness of the need to donate the organs after death to save the lives of others. Soon, another act was passed by the Congress which made the sale and purchase of organs illegal in the U.S. This act was the National Organ Transplant Act. Organ donations are voluntary, free and usually based on decisions made to be a donor ahead of time, and communicated with family members or in the written last will of a person.

Finally, in 1997 as part of the national donation initiative, National Donor Sabbath was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and since 1997 it has been celebrated every year when leaders of different faiths stand together to spread awareness about the campaign.

PATHWAY

THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL CORNEA TRANSPLANT – 1906

This is the first success story of organ transplant,which in future would pave the way for more successful and advanced transparent procedures.

ORGAN PROCUREMENT AGENCY IS FORMED – 1968

The organ procurement organization(OPO) is established in New England,Boston.

FIRST ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR AWARENESS WEEK – 1983

Congress declares the first National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, meant to spread awareness on the need of registering oneself as a donor.

NATIONAL ORGAN TRANSPLANT NETWORK – 1984

A system of Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (O.P.T.N.) is launched to make sure that the organs are being allocated fairly and to the people who need them.

NATIONAL DONOR SABBATH IS LAUNCHED – 1997

The theme of “GIVE THANKS.GIVE LIFE” is main focal point.

*******DONATING ORGANS IS A GESTURE OF LOVE*******

Every years, many thousands receives the gift of life, a life saving transplant of Heart, Kidney, Liver, Lungs, Pancreas and Interesting. And thousands more people receive Corneas and other tissues that restore sight and health. Organ transplantation is one of the medicals advances of our time.

How does it work?

It all starts when someone’s organ begins to fail and that person will need a transplant to survive. The steps are as folllow:-

A through evaluation is conducted at a transplant centre and the person is a good candidate for transplant, he or she will be put into the National Transplant Waiting List.
Once a person is on the waiting list, the wait for organ begins.
A national system matches people on the waiting list with donors. That factors matching donors to recipient includes
- Blood type
- Body size
- How sick the patient is
- Distance from donor
- Tissue type
- Time on list

What isn’t taken into account, organs are never matched based on

Race
Gender
Income
Celebrity
Social status

There is no telling how long the wait will take. Infact, some people don’t receive an organ in time, because the Waiting List is really long and there aren’t enough donors available. That’s why an average of 20 people on the Waiting List died each day. Imagine how many could we save if we all were donors.

Becoming a donors

Most of organs transplant comes a deceived donors. For example, a person comes to the hospital with a life threatening brain injury, such as from an accident, stroke, our lack of oxygen. The doctors work hard to save them patients life but sometimes nothing can be done. There’s a complete, irreversible loss of brain function. The patient is clinically and legally dead.

Thats when being a donor can turn a time of loss into a time of hope. Because machines have blood containing and oxygen flowing into the organs, they can be passed along. One person can give life to as many as eight people through organ donation, and enhance the lives of fifty people or more with eye and tissue donation. But now minutes matter, matches must be found and transplants must happen quickly.

Organ Procurement organization

The hospital contracts an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), it manages the recovery process. The OPO checks the state of organ donor registry, if the person is already registered as a donor they inform the family, if not they’ll ask the family to authorise donation.

A medical examination is taken place. They check the medical and social history and the person is eligible to be an organ donor, the computer begins to search on the National Waiting List for well matched patients The best matched patients are contracted by the transplant team. This is the call that every person on the Waiting List was waiting for.

The Transplant

A surgical team recovers the organs, then Corneas and other tissues. The organs are sent to the transplant hospital where patients and transplant teams are waiting and the life saving transplant takes place. It will take health living and medication to keep the organ working well in its new home.

You too could make the decision today, sign up on your state registry as an organ, eye and tissues donor, any age is the right age, Young or old, any day is the right day to sign up as a donor. You can register through your drivers license or you can register online. Remember to tell your family so that they can support your wishes. More than 1r5 million people have already registered, and we all need to save kore lives. So let’s share the gift of life.