Organ and Tissue Donation

To continue in this a “how the community can work to forestall/prevent death” vein (or is it stream of consciousness?), I got a thank you letter from Gift of Hope today. While we do what we can in aiding with organ donation, we participate most directly with that organization in their tissue donation program. Our facilities are used for the procurement procedure in obtaining the donated tissues from decedents for the benefit of the living. Did you know that “1 in 20 Americans will require tissue transplant some time in his or her life”? Corneas are obtained to assist with restoration of sight. Skin is used to assist with healing severely burned individuals. Bone is used to help someone whose broken bone needs help in healing. Heart valves can help with a leak that prevents the full expression of someone’s life. Last year Gift of Hope made 30,000 tissue transplants possible. So many things possible, so many good things done, so many living individuals impacted positively.

Tissue donations don’t necessarily prevent death, but it is a beneficial activity for the common good (the good of the community, for your fellow man/woman). We should all sign up to be organ and/or tissue donors.