Victorians are being asked to register as organ and tissue donors and talk to their family this DonateLife Week.
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Sarah Darbyshire
DonateLife, Australia’s national program to increase organ and tissue donation, is asking Victorians to register as donors this DonateLife Week.
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There are thousands of Australians needing life-saving transplants, and every year, several die waiting.
A single organ donor can save up to seven lives, and change several others through tissue and eye donation.
According to DonateLife, around 2000 Australians are currently waiting for a transplant, with a further 14,000 on dialysis for kidney failure.
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PENNY STEPHENS
New data from the Federal Government’s Organ and Tissue Authority reveals that despite four in five Australians supporting organ and tissue donation, only 35 per cent of eligible people are on the Australian Organ Donor Register.
That figure drops in Victoria, where just 23 per cent of eligible donors are registered.
Regional LGAs have higher rates of registration than metropolitan ones, with about 29.8 per cent of eligible donors signed up, compared to just 21.2 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne.
In the Gannawarra and Campaspe Shire LGAs, the number sits above the state average, at 27 and 33 per cent, respectively.
Despite regional areas leading the way, Dr Rohit D'Costa, DonateLife Victoria’s state medical director, said that more donors, from all parts of the state, were needed.
Despite the majority of Australians supporting organ donation, only 35 per cent of those eligible are registered donors.
Photo by
PENNY STEPHENS
“Only about one to two per cent of deaths in hospital occur where organ donation is even medically possible,” Dr D’Costa said.
“We’re talking about a very rare situation where, medically, someone may be able to help others through organ donation.
“I think if people realised that, they’d be more likely to [register].”
He said it was also critical that people talk to their family about their decision.
In Australia, donations require the consent of the deceased’s family, and DonateLife’s statistic’s show families are twice as likely to consent if they know their loved one is registered as a donor.
Organ donation is only medically possible in around one to two per cent of deaths in that occur in hospital.
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Dean Farrell, 56, from Bendigo, is one of the thousands facing the prospect of potentially needing a donor.
Mr Farrell’s kidneys have just 25 per cent function left, likely requiring dialysis and a transplant.
He said thinking about it was “daunting”.
“I won't say it's life-changing yet, but it certainly makes me put into context my thoughts on what the next one, two or five or 10 years hold and what I'll be able to do.
“I never thought I was going to get chronic kidney disease.”
“I always thought I would have been able to help by giving something to someone when I passed away, and knowing that I will need something [myself] ‒ from either a living donor or someone who has died ‒ it's pretty hard to wrap [my] brain around.”
Families are twice as likely to consent to donation when they know the deceased is a registered donor than when they’re unsure.
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Supplied
As well as recommending blood tests every six months, Mr Farrell urged others to add their name to the donor register.
“Talk about it, understand it, and have it on Medicare that you are a donor,” he said.
“Because if you’re not, someone's missed out.”
Dr D’Costa wants people to use DonateLife Week as an opportunity to check their donor status, and sign up if they haven’t already.
“There might be misconceptions [from] some people thinking ”I’m already registered“, but they’re not,” he said.
“If you support organ donation, and we know most people do, register that decision and have a conversation with the people you love.”
DonateLife Week is DonateLife’s major public awareness week.
It runs from Sunday, July 26 to Sunday, August 2.
It only takes one minute to register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au or through Medicare.
Then, tell your family you want to be a donor – someone's life depends on it.
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