Aug. 9, 2023 | Discrimination, poor access and unethical care have led to distrust in our health system among communities of color. August is National Multi-ethnic Donor Awareness Month, founded in 1996 to bring heightened awareness to donation and transplantation in multicultural communities. The need for organ donation awareness is particularly important when you consider the fact that health conditions that overwhelmingly affect people of color such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol can result in the need for kidney and heart transplants. In 2020, more than half of transplants performed were on Caucasians despite representing only 40 percent of transplant candidates, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Communities of color make up 60 percent of those on the organ transplant waiting list nationally yet comprise a relatively low percentage of registered donors.

Aug. 9, 2023 | More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are currently waiting for an organ transplant. Unfortunately, many of those people will never receive a call that a donor organ has been found. In fact, around 17 people die every day in this country because there are not enough donor organs for all awaiting a transplant. Kidneys are the most needed and most commonly transplanted organ, with more than 90,000 people currently waiting to receive a transplant. Conditions such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure can lead to kidney failure, making a transplant necessary to restore proper kidney function and improve the patient’s quality of life. Unfortunately, the demand for kidneys far exceeds the number of available organs, resulting in long waiting periods for individuals in need of a transplant. The survival rate for liver transplant patients is fairly good, with approximately 75 percent of patients living 5 years or longer after the surgery.

Aug. 9, 2023 | A single donor can provide up to eight transplantable organs, from the heart, lungs and pancreas to kidneys, liver and small intestine. Tissue that can be donated include the eyes, skin, bone, heart valves and tendons. If you wish to join the thousands of American signed up to be an organ donor, there are a few simple steps you need to take. First, sign up with your state’s donor registry. To find a complete list of each state’s organizations, go to organdonor.gov. You can also mark your choice on your driver’s license, do this when you get or renew your license. And make sure you tell your family about this decision, let them know that you want to be an organ donor. If you have named someone to decide about your health care for you if you are unable to do so, make sure that person knows that you want to be an organ donor. You also can include your wishes in a living will if you have one but the will might not be read right at the time of your death.

Aug. 9, 2023 | You’re never too old or too young to donate your organs. Many states let people younger than 18 register as organ donors. But if you die before your 18th birthday, your parents or legal guardian will make the decision. If you want to be an organ donor, make sure your family is OK with your wishes. Remember, children, too, need organ transplants. They often need organs smaller than adult size. And just because you are an older adult doesn’t mean you can’t qualify to donate organs or tissue. There’s no standard cutoff age for donating organs. The decision to use your organs is based on the health of your organs, not age. Let the health care team decide at the time of your death whether your organs and tissues can be transplanted. Maybe you can’t donate some organs, but other organs and tissues are fine. Again, let the health care team decide at the time of your death whether your organs and tissues can be transplanted.

Aug. 9, 2023 | The organ donation process is difficult because organs must be matched with individuals on the national waiting list. According to ARORA, a non-profit organization dedicated to recovering organs, tissue and eye donations for transplantation, once the organs have been matched with a recipient, they are surgically removed in a hospital operating room. Surgeons and their assistants recover each organ in a specific order. The surgeons return to the transplant center and transplant the organs into the waiting recipients. Due to time limits, some organs like kidneys can be properly packaged and transported on a commercial plane while others must be transported more urgently. The heart, for example, can only be outside the body for four hours before being transplanted while kidneys can be outside of the body for up to 48 hours before being transplanted. Every available test is performed to ensure the safety of the organs and the tissues.