Siobhan and George Bates with Mary Kennedy and Health Minister Dr James Reilly TD
Kidney transplant recipient Siobhan Bates and her husband George from Letterkenny who are members of the Donegal branch of the Irish Kidney Association attended the national launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week (29th March-5th April).
The event was held at the Mansion House Dublin last week and they were photographed with ambassador for the life saving awareness campaign broadcaster Mary Kennedy.
A record number of organ transplants were carried out in 2013 despite having the same number of deceased donors as ten years previously. With 86 deceased organ donors in both 2013 and 2003 thanks to medical advancement in Ireland, 69 more organs were transplanted last year than a decade before. A total of 294 organs were transplanted in 2013 through living and deceased organ donation including a new source of donors, cardiac death donors.
Irish Kidney Association Chief Executive Mark Murphy said that “last year’s record figures of 294 transplants, which included 11 double transplant operations, was due to the generosity of families of 86 deceased donors. This increase in transplants can also be attributed to the consistent record breaking Living Donor Programme, at Beaumont Hospital, and a new source of deceased donors – cardiac death donors”. Mr. Murphy was speaking at the national launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week 2014, by the Minister for Health, Dr.James Reilly, T.D., which was held at the Mansion House, Dublin 2 on Wednesday, 26th March.
Organ Donor Awareness Week, which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association and supported by the Irish Donor Network, will take place from Saturday 29th March until Saturday 5th April. Attending the launch was ambassador for the campaign, broadcaster Mary Kennedy, who will feature in radio advertising and a campaign poster to promote organ donation. Also at the launch were students from Eureka Secondary School, winners of the 2013 Young Social Innovators, who have developed their winning project on organ donation, producing an education pack including a DVD which will be rolled out to secondary schools during Organ Donor Awareness Week. It is hoped that this tool will be the first step to achieving the topic of organ donation, recognised as a formal module, in the transition year curriculum.
The IKA welcomes the investment of €2.9 million, by the HSE, and its 2014 service plan to manage organ donation, nationally, which will include the employment of organ donor co-ordinators, Mr. Murphy said that “this is a major step in elevating organ donation in Ireland and will give encouragement to the 550 people or more on transplant waiting lists”.
Addressing the Minister for Health, Mr. Murphy cautioned that “the widespread loss of discretionary medical cards for all patients who are chronically ill and reliant on high-tech medications, is having a devastating personal economic effect on all the 3000 transplanted people in Ireland. In addition, the 1800 dialysis patients’ future relies on hi-tech medications. I urge you, Minister, to re-examine this cohort of patients, as I fear for these people if nothing is resolved. I am also concerned that very few transplanted people will ever return to employment due to the almost automatic loss of their medical cards in the future.”
Applauding the Mater Hospital’s lung transplant figures in 2013, Mr. Murphy said “it conducted a staggering 32 lung transplants in 2013 surpassing its previous record of 14 in 2012 and achieved, in one year, more than the previous four years of lung transplantation which totalled 31. The Mater’s Lung Transplant programme, set up nine years ago, is now placed 3rd on the European lung transplant table. 11 heart transplant operations were also carried out at The Mater Hospital in 2013 and St. Vincent’s Hospital carried out 55 Liver transplants.”
Mr. Murphy said that “the generosity of the 86 deceased donors and their families in 2013 dramatically altered and saved the lives of 245 people, eleven of whom received two organs (kidney and pancreas combined). In 2013, an additional 38 people benefitted from living donor kidney transplants which brings the total number of living kidney transplants to 155 since the commencement of the programme, at Beaumont Hospital seven years ago. In 2013, Beaumont Hospital carried out 147 kidney transplants from deceased donors, of which 11 were combined with pancreas transplants.
“A significant welcome development is cardiac death donation, a new source of deceased donors which should significantly add to our deceased donor rates in the future. Brain stem death donors have been the norm, in Ireland, for the last 50 years since transplantation began here. Six of the 86 deceased donors in 2013 were cardiac death donors, as a result of pioneering by the intensivists at Beaumont Hospital. In 2012 cardiac death donation accounted for 43% of the UK’s deceased donors and 33% of the Netherlands deceased donors. This shows the potential for Ireland”.
Mr. Murphy asserted “transplantation is a national team effort. The public are an essential element of the team with their generosity to donate organs thus, the need for organ donor awareness campaigns. The organ procurement service, the acute hospitals throughout the country and the three transplant teams from St. Vincent’s, the Mater and Beaumont Hospitals, have all achieved outstanding results in very difficult times for the health services.”
“January 31st 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of transplantation in Ireland when the first kidney transplant operation took place at Jervis Street. As of December 31st 2013 the total of 4,047 people have either received kidney transplants or are receiving dialysis treatment. Both treatments began simultaneously in Jervis Street Hospital in 1964. 51 years ago we had no way to save these 4,000 people.”
The focus of Organ Donor Awareness Week is to raise awareness about the ongoing and ever increasing demand for transplantation, which relies entirely on the public for organ donation. Families need to talk amongst themselves and keep the reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying the organ donor card, downloading the Smartphone App and permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s license.
Organ Donor Awareness Week also serves as a fundraising exercise for the Irish Kidney Association. Throughout the Week ( 29th March- 5th April, 2014) the Association’s volunteers will be out on the streets, and in shopping centres throughout the country, selling ‘forget-me-not-flower’ emblems, brooches, pens and shopping trolley discs. All proceeds will go towards the Irish Kidney Association’s aid for patients on dialysis and those patients fortunate enough to have received a kidney transplant. The Irish Kidney Association charitable activities include the provision of a 13 double bedroom free accommodation facility, for patients and their families, in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital and holiday centres located in Tramore and Kerry, together with patient advocacy, advice, financial aid and rehabilitative, health promotion and provision of kidney patient information and education. All the IKA services are free to patients and their families.
78% of the IKA funding comes from the general public and the organisation relies heavily on a successful fundraising campaign. Whilst the demand for vital services has increased, like other charities the IKA’s funding levels has dropped dramatically. The Irish Kidney Association is a charity of kidney patients and their carers and is fully compliant with the voluntary code of fundraising practice and no commission is paid to any of its volunteer fundraisers or staff.
The Irish Kidney Association is the national organisation charged with the promotion and distribution of the organ donor card in Ireland, on behalf of all other patient groups, with an interest in organ donation that form the Irish Donor Network.
Free information fact files, which accompany organ donor cards, are obtainable from the Irish Kidney Association and are available nationwide from pharmacies, GP surgeries and Citizen Information Offices etc.
Organ Donor Cards can also be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. Visit website www.ika.ie
It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the ‘ecard’ on Smart mobile phones. Simply search for ‘Donor ECard’ at the IPhone Store or Android Market Place.
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