Grayce P. Storey
A special trained staff is available to assist families who are participants in the organ donor program. They are available for weeks and months after the death of a loved one. There is literature for the bereaved family that is provided by the Donor Family Program. The family receives letters, telephone calls, and there is an annual gathering in memory of the donors. They have the privilege of making contact with other donor families. Families may participate in a bereavement support group. They may choose a skilled person to work with them.
The Transplant Network, writes letters of condolence and thanks to every donor family, "Included in the letter is a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Surgeon General and the National Kidney Foundation's book For Those Who Give and Grieve."7
The National Transplant Network also write letters of appreciation to the hospital staff. They are also given information on the organs that were transplanted. The purpose of these letters is to provide information to the families and health care personnel about the recipients while respecting their confidentiality.
Posted on the California Transplant Donor Network web page is a Bill of Rights for Donor Families. The three that stand out most in my mind are:
1. To be provided with time, privacy, freedom from coercion, confidentiality, and the services of an appropriate support person and other resources, which are essential to optimal care for the family and to enable family members to make an informal and free decision about donation.
2. To be cared for in a manner that is sensitive to the family's need and capacities by specially trained individuals.
3. To have opportunity to spend time alone with loved one before and after the process of removal of tissue or organ, and to say their "good byes" in a manner that is appropriate to the present and future needs of the family consistent with their cultural and religious identity.
I think the most comforting aspect of the bereavement process is to know that you are not going through the ordeal alone. There are a lot of trained people to assist and help you get through. There are families that can empathize from a very personal level.
Tissue Donations
It was just this year 2001 that a thrust was made in my school to provide all of the students who did not have glasses, but needed them, with glasses. Fortunately the eye glasses made the difference. Corneal blindness is a condition that glasses cannot correct. It requires surgery. The cornea is a small piece of tissue, a little larger than a contact lens. It covers that part of the eye that you can see, the front. The cornea is a piece of tissue that can be recovered and transplanted. The majority of people who are affected with corneal blindness is under the age of thirty. On the world wide scale corneal blindness affect more than ten million people.
The cornea can be affected by trauma, disease, and of course inherited conditions. The results can cause loss of sight or blindness. With a cornea transplant operation the sight can be restored.
The Tissue Bank International (TBI) have facilities in thirty-three U.S. locations. Many of the recovered tissue has nothing to do with being able to restore sight. These non-ocular tissues include musculoskeletal tissue, bone ligaments, and tendons which are necessary for mobility, skin which is used in reconstructive surgery saphenous veins and more.
Previously patients had to wait months or even years for tissue to become available. Today there is virtually no waiting no lines. For those who have lost their sight and can get it restored this is good news. Can you imagine what it would be like if you were unable to look upon some of the beauties of nature?
