Organ donor families and grateful transplant recipients from around the country are supporting the Organ Donor Awareness Week 2022 campaign which will take place from April 23 to 30 and is organised by the Irish Kidney Association in association with the HSE’s Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.
Featuring on the campaign poster are photos of 32 people from all walks of life and of all ages, who between them are enjoying over 410 years of extra life thanks to the families of deceased organ donors who gifted them organs including hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and pancreas.
This year’s awareness campaign is built around the theme Share your Wishes about organ donation, #ShareYourWishes. The key message is that members of the public can play their part in supporting organ donation for transplantation by ensuring that their families know their wishes. ie, they ‘have the conversation’. Sharing your wishes when you are in good health makes it a less stressful decision for your family in the event of them being approached about you being a potential organ donor.
Many independent pharmacies and pharmacy chains will be showing their support for the campaign by displaying the campaign poster on their digital screens or displaying the printed version prominently in their outlets. They will also be displaying countertop boxes of free organ donor cards which are accompanied by information fact files and leveraging their social media presence to get the message across about having the family conversation. The Irish Kidney Association also provides its Digital Organ Donor Card free to download from the App Store and Google Play.
The Irish Kidney Association is encouraging the wider public to show their support for the campaign by organising their own awareness activities and challenges while observing all pertinent Covid-19 safety measures. Whether it is getting organ donor cards to share with your family, or setting up a little information stand in your school, college, or place of work, it all makes a difference. You can request organ donor cards via the IKA’s website www.ika.ie/donorweek2022
Public buildings and sites around the country are lighting up in green in support of the life-saving awareness campaign. Last year more than 70 sites were lit up in green for the duration of the week-long campaign demonstrating nationwide solidarity in support of organ donation.
Green is the internationally recognised colour associated with organ donation for transplantation. City and county councils are supporting the campaign as are the 550-plus people currently waiting in hope for a call for a transplant and many more as well as the more than 5,000 people in Ireland who have successful functioning transplanted organs.
Whilst many things have been put on pause during the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for organ donation and transplantation continues. Despite the unprecedented challenges which the pandemic has presented, organ transplant operations continued which is thanks to organ donors and their families and also the dedicated transplant teams in transplanting hospitals - Beaumont, St Vincents, The Mater, and Temple Street.
At any one time in Ireland there are between 550 and 600 people active on waiting lists for organ transplants including heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas. There was a fall in the number of transplants over the past two years across all the national transplant programmes during Covid-19. A total of 206 transplant operations were carried out in Ireland in 2021 (16 more transplants than in 2020 ). This activity in very challenging times could not have taken place but for the generosity of 65 deceased donors and 35 living kidney donors.
Carol Moore, chief executive, Irish Kidney Association said: “Two years ago, the 2020 Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign was postponed and ultimately cancelled at short notice when Covid-19 reached our shores. Last year the pandemic was still with us. This impacted on the Irish Kidney Association’s ability to promote organ donor awareness ‘on the ground’ and the overall annual awareness week campaign. With Covid-19 still lingering, we have had to adapt awareness campaigns and while Government restrictions have lifted, many people at high-risk of infection, including immune suppressed transplant recipients and vulnerable patients in organ failure, continue to observe caution and double down on their safety measures.
“We greatly value the role of pharmacists in helping to spread the message about the importance of organ donation by displaying the campaign poster and carrying stocks of organ donor cards. Patients on transplant waiting lists live in hope that organs will become available to them and a strong public show of support by requesting organ donor cards builds that hope. The uncertainty associated with waiting for an organ transplant is difficult as the future is unknown, and there is the knowledge that in order to be given the gift of life another family will be grieving the loss of a loved one.
“We also welcome the support of county councils," she continued. "By lighting up public sites in green we are drawing attention to organ donation being an integral part of active citizenship on the part of the public. From dusk to dawn, public sites all over the country will be lit up in green, undoubtedly prompting much discussion around organ donation.”
Individuals who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence, or having the Digital Organ Donor Card app on their smartphone.
Organ donor cards can be requested by visiting www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card, Alternatively phone the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306, or Freetext the word DONOR to 5005.
