Advantages and Examples. (Organ Donation, Location of Site, How can we be an advocate of Organ donation?) Keith Nester A.

Lavin, RN Organ donation is the removal of the tissues of the human body from a person who has re cently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting. Organs an d tissues are removed in procedures similar to surgery. takes healthy organs and tissues from one person for transplantation int o another. the harvesting of an individual's organs after he or she dies for the pu rpose of transplanting them into another person. Organs you can donate: Lungs Heart Kidneys Intestines Pancreas Liver Tissues you can donate: Bones and bone marrow Corneas Veins Skin Heart valves Tendons How Organ Donation and Transplantation Works When a person dies or is declared brain dead, it is the hospital's responsibilit y to find out if that individual is an organ donor. If he or she is, their organ s will be kept viable via ventilator or other mechanisms until they can be harve sted. Most of the individuals whose organs are donated will have died from an ex ternal trauma or head injury. Those with serious illnesses such as cancer usuall y do not make good candidates. Many factors are taken into consideration in dete rmining what organs are viable including how long the person has been deceased a s well the individual's physical health before he or she died. In many cases, pr ocurement specialists and doctors have roughly 24 hours to remove and transplant the organs. The Benefits of Organ Donating Helps grieving families: When a loved one dies, most families will want to do ev erything they can to help the grieving process. Knowing that the corneas or hear t of the person who just died will help another see or even live can be very com forting. They receive some peace knowing that something positive has come out of the death. New lease on life: For those receiving the organs, these transplants can mean a second chance at life. For some, it means being able to see, while for others, i t can mean actually being able to live. Better quality of life: Individuals who are dependent on kidney dialysis and rec eive a kidney transplant can return to living a regular lifestyle without machin es. Cost effective: Some organ transplants can be less expensive in the long run tha n continuing medical care, specifically in the case of kidney transplants. Social responsibility: Many individuals feel it is their social responsibility t o help others survive or live normal lives. Examples 1. A 16-year-old boy, who is fatally ill, has chosen to do so by deciding to don ate his heart, liver, corneas, kidney, skin and bones after he dies. The boy, Feng Shihui, is suffering from the idiopathic thrombocytopenic pur pura that has depleted his platelet count. He signed the relevant papers with th e Red Cross Society of China's Shenzhen Branch, becoming the youngest among the 6,000-plus locals to register as an organ donor in this southern Chinese city.

How can we be an advocate of organ donation Novartis supports government organ donation advocacy (The Philippine Star) Updated December 17, 2009 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - Novartis is supporting the governments advocacy on organ do nation to address two important public health issues: the growing number of Filipinos with end-stage organ failure and the acu te lack of organ donors in the country. Two nationwide surveys conducted in 2001 and 2005 showed that public awareness o n organ donation and transplantation is relatively low. For a person with end-stage organ failure, the only chance for survival is an org an transplant. Unfortunately, the waiting list for organ recipients is long beca use transplantable organs and willing organ donors are scarce. Approximately one person with kidney failure will die each week while waiting for an organ transp lant, according to Dr. Enrique Ona, executive director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI). Only another kidney can perform the role of this vital organ. Moreover, a kidney transplant is better than lifelong dialysis in terms of quality of life, surviva l and cost, he said. Ona revealed that every year about 10,000 Filipinos develop kidney failure mainl y from diabetes and high blood pressure. However, he continued, only about 7,000 Filipino patients annually are able to start lifelong dialysis, a number that i ncreases by 10 percent each year. Half of these patients die after a year because either they can no longer afford dialysis or they cannot find a suitable kidney donor. Due to the acute lack of k idney donors, only 500 Filipino patients receive a kidney transplant every year, he said. The only way we can save the lives of the thousands of Filipino patients with ki dney failure is to increase the countrys organ pool for transplantation, he said. According to Ona, the number of brain dead or deceased donors and living donors the preferred sources of transplantable organs in the country remains woefully l ow. In 1991, a television documentary exposed an alleged kidneys-for-sale racket ran b y brokers of kidney transplants. The documentary sparked a national controversy that led to a Senate investigation. Protecting organ donors To prevent the commercialization of organ donors, the DOH and NKTI are implement ing the Philippine Organ Donation Program (PODP). The PODP ensures, among others, the prioritization of Filipino patients in the o rgan recipient waiting list; the safety of both organ donor and recipient; that payment as precondition for kidney donation and sale/purchase of kidneys from or gan vendors are strictly prohibited; and that kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism. Organ donation should be based on free and informed consent. Let us work together to remove the conditions that promote abuse and exploitation, such as poverty, ignorance and greed, said Dr. Angeles Tan-Alora, a member of the Southeast Asian Center for Bioethics. Novartis endorses the Declaration of Istanbul, which prohibits transplant commerc ialism, organ trafficking and transplant tourism, said van Oppens. We are committe d to working with the DOH, NKTI and other local stakeholders in ensuring that th e principles of the Declaration of Istanbul are adopted at all times. Novartis, in collaboration with transplantation organizations around the world, created the Transplantation Tree of Life initiative. This two-pronged program promotes awareness on voluntary organ donation, the lac k of available organs, the unmet medical needs in transplantation as well as Nov artis commitment and focus on improving long-term outcomes in transplantation. To date, the Transplantation Tree of Life program has been launched in South Kor ea, Russia, France, Germany, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Greece, Spain and Thaila nd. There are few, if any, long-term effects if you donate one of your kidneys. You only need to get blood and urine tests and your blood pressure checked at least

once a year, Ona said. Kidney donors save lives. Be a hero, be an organ donor.