By Adam Lignell
An organ and tissue donation symposium aimed to help create more understanding between doctors, professors, donor families and students, Friday, April 6.
Entitled “Share Life, Share Love,” the event was hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI), and also sponsored by the Gift of Life foundation and the Midwest Transplant Network (MTN).
Diversity Council chair Diane Kappen invited her psychology class to attend, and said she learned far more about the subject of organ donation herself.
“I didn’t have a clue about all the things that go into [organ donation,]” Kappen said. “Our major interest at the beginning were the cultural influences on giving or not.”
Jill Johnson, bookstore clerk whose eleven-year-old son Amir passed away a year ago, spoke during the symposium about why he is a hero.
“I was thankful for the time, and that he’s living on through somebody else,” she said. “His life wasn’t in vain, he’s our hero. Just like a soldier would give their life in a war, my son gave his life for somebody else to have life. To me, that’s a heroic effort.”
MTN helped Johnson’s family during the transplant, and helped them recuperate when it was over.
“They are very compassionate people, they work with you,” Johnson said. “They had more compassion than our doctor did.”
Tony Johnson, Jill’s husband, discussed how medical physicians should care for organ or tissue donors.
“If somebody could’ve saved my son’s life, I would’ve wanted them to be generous so my son could live,” he said. “I was able to help somebody else’s family member be there for everything.”
Tony Johnson also talked about why it’s so important for donor families to be comforted when the process is over.
“You can’t support everybody when you’re hurt,” he said. “Having somebody around to buffer that really helps.”
Harry Wilkins, doctor with MTN, discussed why it’s so important for doctors to use checklists when conducting transplants.
“We’ve talked to societies and groups, and the American Academy of Neurology are pushing these,” Wilkins said. “So I think the way we’re going to do that is through education, and continue pushing.”
Without using checklists or other specific ways of preparing for transplants, doctors can make some major mistakes.
“Since we are moving into an era of evidence based medicine, it’s incumbent upon you [medical practitioners] to use the accepted guidelines,” Wilkins said. “You’ve got to keep up with the latest trends or refer to a specialist who does.”
Wilkins further talked about how knowledge of good sources for organ donation can help people make better decisions.
“There are about five major ones [medical organizations] from neurosurgeons to neurologists,” Wilkins said. “The ones that are sanctioned by the AAN, those are the most credible.”
Carmaletta Williams, head of ODEI and professor of English, explained why the symposium was organized.
“We get this information, and this is too much information for just us,” Williams said. “We need to share it.”
Tony and Jill Johnson should be more recognized, according to Williams.
“To me, they were heroes too,” she said. “They were able to make really wonderful decisions to honor Amir.”
Students and future donors can contact Gift of Life at www.giftdonor.org. The Midwest Transplant Network can be contacted at http://www.mwtn.org/.
Contact Adam Lignell, staff reporter, at alignell@jccc.edu.