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NEWSROOM - Archives |
January 21, 2009 TENNESSEE COUNTY CLERKS ANNOUNCE RECORD BREAKING YEAR FOR
COUNTY CLERK ORGAN DONOR AWARENESS PROGRAM -- The Tennessee County Clerk’s are pleased to announce that more than a quarter of a million dollars ($260,790) was raised by County Clerks read more
THE GIFT OF LIFE--Organ Transplants: Finding Hope in Death...reprinted with permission from the Johnson City Press and the author, Teresa Hicks. Organ donation and transplantation has always seemed...(read more)
April 1, 2008 Tennessee Department of Safety & TDS TEAM UP FOR LIFE! APRIL IS NATIONAL DONATE LIFE MONTH --- The Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS) and Tennessee Donor Services (TDS) will host Donor Designation booths at driver license service centers during the month of April in recognition of National Donate Life Month. The public awareness campaign is designed to read more
FINDING THE GOOD
By Laura Lefler
November 25, 2008
Last Thanksgiving, my life changed forever.
My younger brother and only sibling, Trey, was in a very serious car accident and after several days in the hospital he died from his injuries. It was Thanksgiving Day.
There is no doubt that Thanksgiving, and life in general, will never be the same for those that loved Trey, but I believe the timing of his death was significant. It forced us to approach even our darkest day with a spirit of gratitude.
Trey and I both worked for Senator Lamar Alexander for years, and you can’t work or even be around Sen. Alexander for very long without hearing him quote his friend Alex Haley who said, “Find the good and praise it.”
For me, part of “the good” came when we learned that Trey would die the same way he lived, by loving and giving. I like to say that Trey, more than anyone else I know, tried to live his life according to our Lord’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As a natural extension of his generous spirit he had chosen to be an organ and tissue donor and because of his loving choice at least five people were given new life: two single mothers in their 40s, a 56-year-old mother of two who had been married for 28 years, a 36-year-old gentleman who enjoyed fishing (one of Trey’s favorite pastimes), and a 62-year-old physician and father of four who had been on the transplant list for two years.
My family has learned a lot about organ donation in the year since Trey’s death. In particular, we’ve experienced firsthand that while marking “yes” to organ donation is critical, it’s just as important to share your wishes with family members. As the Tennessee Donor Services Web site states: “A discussion with family now will mean a life-affirming decision later.”
According to Tennessee Donor Services (TDS), Trey renewed his driver’s license at a kiosk in Nashville on May 14, 2007, and marked “yes” to organ and tissue donation. His girlfriend, Jane, also recalled a conversation with Trey just a few weeks before his death indicating his wish to donate “everything.” She remembers him saying, “I’ll be with the Big Guy. Give it all.” As we sat in the hospital waiting room, I struggled with the decision to donate his eyes. It seemed so invasive. But they were not my eyes to give. They were Trey’s, he didn’t need them in heaven, and he had made it very clear to “give it all.”
Many people find talk of organ donation uncomfortable and maybe even morbid. And many people believe organ donation is a good thing, but just put off doing something about it for another day. According to TDS, a survey conducted by the National Coalition on Donation found that 91 percent of respondents support donation, and yet 29 percent have taken no action to indicate their wishes via their driver’s license, donor card, living will, or by simply telling their family. That was me. I’m embarrassed to say that I signed my driver’s license the day that Trey died. I’m so thankful that my responsible brother was not part of that 29 percent like I was.
Because of his decision to be an organ donor, Trey’s story became a resurrection story. Out of death and despair came new life, and our Thanksgiving became an Easter. Through our tears we rejoiced knowing that five families had gotten a call on Thanksgiving Day with news that their loved one would be receiving a life-giving organ. What an incredible Thanksgiving for them!
True story: On my mother’s birthday last March she was having dinner with my stepfather at a restaurant in their hometown, 250 miles from the site of Trey’s hospitalization, when a gentleman approached her and thanked her for the very special gift her son had given him. It was the 62-year-old physician and the keeper of one of Trey’s kidneys. The gift – the good – had come full circle.
Laura Lefler is from Loudon, TN and currently lives in Washington, D.C. where she serves as press secretary for U.S. Senator Bob Corker. Before his death on November 22, 2007, Trey Lefler, 25, was serving as state field representative for U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander’s reelection campaign.
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KIDS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
BY KATHY STILL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Saturday, May 1, 2004
Reprinted with permission
Mally Gent, 2004 Miss Virginia Teen USA
HONAKER - Mally Gent has asked thousands of people to consider giving the gift of life.
The teen has made organ donation her official platform during her reign as the 2004 Miss Virginia Teen USA. It's a topic that hits close to home.
"Seven years ago my father received a kidney transplant," she said. "After his kidney transplant, he lives life every day to the fullest. He inspires me because he's the most caring and loving person."
Six members of her extended family have received kidney transplants over the years after suffering from chronic illness.
"It's a topic that is close to my heart," said Mally, a Honaker High School senior. "I've personally contacted more than 5,000 people about becoming organ donors. I try to incorporate organ donation awareness at every appearance I do."
Mally has worked closely with Mountain Regional Donor Services, which promotes organ donation awareness. April was a busy month for Mally. She made some local television appearances to address the topic because April was National Donate Life Month.
"The doctors had told us that my father was going to die," Mally said. "I'm just glad that I've got the chance to give something back."
Mally has been giving to her community for years through volunteer projects. She has volunteered for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, and she has participated in the White Christmas program for underprivileged children in Russell County.
She also has taught life skills to area elementary-school students.
Her community service was noticed by the Virginia General Assembly this session. The House of Delegates and the Senate approved a joint resolution commending her for her community work. Gov. Mark Warner signed the resolution.
"My delegate, Jackie Stump, presented me to the House of Delegates," Mally said. "Senator Phillip Puckett presented me to the Senate, then I got to meet with Attorney General Jerry Kilgore."
Mally spoke with Kilgore about youth violence and ways to prevent it.
"If we can stop violence when the kids are younger, maybe we can stop it for good," she said.
The visit to the state capital has Mally exploring a new career goal. The teen once planned to become a television journalist, but seeing state government work up close has her eyeing political science when she goes to college.
Mally will compete in the Miss Teen USA pageant on Aug. 6, possibly in California. In the meantime, she plans to attend Southwest Virginia Community College as she completes her reign.
She also is excited about the possibility of winning the national pageant, which comes with a free Trump Towers apartment in New York for a year.
"I think I'm going to be prepared," she said. "Everything happens for a reason. If it's God's plan, then he'll let it be."
Mally's extended family plans to attend the pageant.
"My family is so excited," she said. "I could not have done this except for my family. My school has also been very supportive."
Pageants were not in Mally's plans until relatively recently. She said she was a tomboy who enjoyed nothing better than sports.
"I started pageants a year and a half ago," she said. "I had always said I would never be a cheerleader or be in a pageant, but within a year I was a cheerleader and was in my first pageant."
Mally still enjoys sports, especially inline skating.
"I Rollerblade all the time," she said. "I will take a broom and push the snow out of the way just to Rollerblade."
Mally also is a firm believer in self-esteem. She and Kristi Glakas, the reigning Miss Virginia USA, will host a seminar next month when Honaker High celebrates the end of the rigorous Standards of Learning exams. The seminar will address approaching beauty from within, she said.
"I'm really big on self-esteem and self-confidence," Mally said. "I think young women should be confident."
kstill@bristolnews.com | (276) 679-1338
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Organ donors are nation's unsung heroes - Wednesday, January 28, 2004
By TERESA HICKS, Times-News
You don't have to rush into a burning building.
You don't have to jump into a raging river, either. You don't even have to take a class in CPR to become a hero by saving someone's life.
When a person agrees to become an organ donor, the effects of that decision are far-reaching.
Jim's Story
"Seven different people's lives can be saved, and up to 100 more can be improved through tissue transplants," said Kim Kennedy, senior public education coordinator for Mountain Region Donor Services.
And while it's easy to see how organ donation benefits those in need of a transplant, Kennedy understands firsthand that the benefits extend far beyond the recipient's medical miracle.
Kennedy's husband died in November 2003 after suffering a brain aneurysm and donated life-saving organs to three different people.
"One of Jim's kidneys was transplanted to a lady in Memphis who is 52 years old, and she had been waiting for a kidney for almost three years," said Kennedy. "His other kidney went to a 45-year-old lady in Nashville, and his liver was also transplanted in Nashville to a 50-year-old gentleman."
"It has been a blessing to me," she said. "Jim was 43 years old, and none of us saw this coming. It's a terrible tragedy in our lives, and it's the darkest time I've ever experienced. "But through organ donation, three people are alive because of my husband's giving heart. And that's the way Jim lived his life - he was always giving to others. Even if he didn't have it to give, he'd find a way. So this is a way to honor him. It gives us comfort, it gives us hope for the recipients, and it gives us a ray of light in a very dark time."
Between 15,000 and 17,000 people who die in the United States each year are eligible to donate organs, but according to the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, only about 54 percent of them actually donate.
There are a number of reasons why people are hesitant to give their organs or allow a family member's organs to be donated, but many of those reasons involve misconceptions about the donation process, Kennedy said.
"Disfigurement is a major concern for some people," she said. "They're concerned about whether or not they can have an open-casket funeral. But they can. My husband did." "A lot of people are afraid of bone donation in particular because they think of the disfigurement issue, but we put in artificial bones, so the person's body still looks normal," Kennedy said.
"Another consideration is religious questions. A lot of people are unsure what their religion says about organ donation. But most major religions are either in favor of donation or they leave it up to their individual members as a personal choice.
"Another concern is that people think it's going to cost them because there's surgery involved. But they don't pay anything for the donation process. The recovery agency pays for that."
Some people are afraid that if they are a registered organ donor, they would receive a lesser quality of care if they should ever find themselves in a life-threatening situation, but Kennedy said there is no reason to believe such a thing would happen.
"The doctors and nurses that are taking care of the person who might be a potential organ donor in the hospital don't have anything to do with the transplantation process," she said. "They're not transplant surgeons. They're not the organ recovery agency. So there's no incentive for them to make that happen. The other thing is it's not medically feasible because they don't even know who that person would match."
The organ transplantation process can begin only after a patient has been declared brain dead.
"When someone passes away in the hospital, the hospital calls us and lets us know, and if the person meets the criteria for donation, then our coordinators will check and see if they have registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles to be an organ donor," said Kennedy.
"If they have not, then our coordinators will ask the family if the person wanted to be an organ donor. If they don't know what the person's wishes were, then it's up to the family to decide. But if the person has designated their wishes via the driver's license or through a donor card, then the family can't say no."
"If the person has decided to be a donor or if the family decides to donate, then our coordinators will talk with them about the patient's medical and social history and fill out the forms that need to be filled out.
"Then our organ recovery coordinators will find recipients that match the donor and call those transplant centers to get the organs placed. The surgeons from the transplant centers will come into the hospital to do the organ recovery, and they take the organs with them to their transplant centers where they will be transplanted into the recipient," Kennedy said.
The donation process is usually swift and does not delay the donor's funeral, she said.
While there are a number of ways to become an organ donor, the most important step to take is to notify your family.
"Most of the time when someone donates organs, it's through the family and not through any kind of documentation," Kennedy said.
For those who want to leave behind a record of their decision, however, legal documentation of such a wish is not hard to come by.
"The easiest way to be an organ donor is to just sign a donor card and carry it with you," said Kennedy. "You can call (your donor services office) to request a free donor card."
"If you want to be on the registry through the DMV, you have to check that box when you renew your driver's license. On the Tennessee driver's license application, it is a check box. But you sign to the right of it, so it is a legal document," Kennedy said.
"Also in Tennessee, the back of your driver's license is a donor card, so you can just fill that out too," she added.
In some states, a person's family can override their decision to donate organs. But in Tennessee and Virginia, Kennedy said, a person's signature on their organ donor card or driver's license is legally binding and can't be disregarded.
"But it's very important to talk with your family," Kennedy said. "If you haven't actually signed that donor card on the back of your driver's license, or you haven't signed a form with the DMV, then your family is going to have to sign the form."
Ways to become an organ donor:
* Tell your family of your desire to donate.
* Check the organ donor box on your driver's license application.
* Fill out the organ donor card on the back of your driver's license (in some states).
* Call (your local donor services office) to have a free organ donor card mailed to your home.
* Indicate your desire to donate in your living will.
Facts About Organ Donation:
* Organ donation does not disfigure the donor's body. An open-casket funeral is still possible.
* Organ donation involves no cost to the donor's family or estate.
* Most major religions either advocate organ donation or leave it up to the individual as a personal choice.
* A patient's status as an organ donor will never affect the quality of care he or she receives in the hospital.
* In most cases, organ donation does not delay the donor's funeral.
* A single person's choice to donate organs and tissue can save the lives of up to seven people and improve the lives of over 100 more.
Reprinted with permission from the author and Kingsport Times-News.
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NATIONAL DONOR MEMORIAL
Honoring America’s Organ and Tissue Donors
To honor America’s organ and tissue donors and their families, to highlight the impact of their gift of life on the lives of so many others, and to underscore the critical importance of increasing organ donation, the United Network for Organ Sharing has created the National Donor Memorial at their headquarters in Richmond, Virginia as an expression of the transplant community’s gratitude.
A WAY TO SAY THANK YOU. The mother of a young girl who became an organ donor. - a husband who gave his wife one of his kidneys - a grateful liver recipient…. what common thread do these individuals share? Along with other organ donor family members and recipients from all over the country, these volunteers have come together to guide the design of the National Donor Memorial.
Their efforts were realized in spring of 2003 in a 10,000-square-foot walkway and garden that symbolically leads visitors through the organ and tissue donation experience. The journey guides visitors past a wall of tears and a dramatic wall of first names, to a bright, open lawn and a peaceful grove with flowing water. This design allows visitors to reflect and ultimately be consoled each time they visit.
AN INTERACTIVE TRIBUTE. Complementing the walkway and garden is the interior portion of the memorial. In the lobby of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) headquarters, a free-standing computer kiosk houses Internet-based tributes and photographs of donors from across the country. UNOS creates the Web pages. Donor families, friends and recipients, however, will provide the words and images to honor and celebrate their loved ones. Most important, anyone with Internet access can participate in the experience. Also honoring America’s organ and tissue donors is a continuous slide show projected against a lobby wall.
The memorial is a way to say thank you. But the memorial doesn’t end there. It serves as a reminder to everyone that organs are scarce, and the need is great.
To learn more about how you can get involved, contact Marcia Manning with UNOS at manninmd@unos.org or visit www.donormemorial.org.
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"From Best Practices to Common Practice": An Initiative Built on the Best Practices of High Performing Donation Service Areas
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has launched another phase of his plan to increase donation rates in the United States. With this new initiative, Secretary Thompson challenged the 300 hospitals with the highest number of eligible donors to increase their donation rate in their institutions to 75%. The aim of this Collaborative is to dramatically increase access to transplantable organs. The hospitals within Tennessee Donor Services service area include: Erlanger Medical Center, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Johnson City Medical Center, University of Tennessee Memorial Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
In 2002, almost 60% of the eligible donors identified in the United States were concentrated in only 300 hospitals. Unfortunately, not all of the eligible donors became actual donors. In the United States only 46% of the eligible donors become actual donors. Most hospitals across the country have a donation rate of 30-55%, with some hospitals having rates at 5% or less. There are some hospitals that have achieved great success. Seventeen of the top 300 hospitals have programs that enable donation in over 75% of eligible donation cases. This initiative is aimed at using the principles and practices in these top hospitals and with their respective Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and put these practices into place in all hospitals. By understanding which hospitals and OPOs have outstanding donation rates, it is possible to identify and disseminate best practices. By gathering a collective wisdom of participants and a panel of experts, this collaboration provides the necessary technical and social support needed to help teams from participating organizations to make dramatic improvements.
Secretary Thompson has set a benchmark of 75% for all hospital organ donation rates. He has given each hospital a new target to reach; 46% is not good enough to meet the needs of all the patients waiting for life-saving organ transplant. For more information, call your local Tennessee Donor Services office or your local Organ Procurement Organization.
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