DCU students launch organ donation awareness campaign

A NEW organ donation awareness campaign has been launched by local students at DCU.The ‘Donor Heroes’ campaign, run by communications students Martin Flanagan, Emer Martin, Brian Furey and Pierce McBee will utilise various social media platforms to spread organ donation awareness.

The students aim to highlight important issues surrounding organ donation in Ireland and provide information on outlets where students and staff can pick up organ donor cards.

Throughout the campaign, the students will share informative material that will comprise interviews with those involved in promoting organ donation in Ireland, as well as organ transplant recipients.

The campaign’s coordinator, Emer Martin, commented:

“The main reason behind deciding to run this campaign is because I gained a personal interest after reading up on many of the statistics surrounding organ donation and success rates in Ireland.

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She added:

“I know there is definitely room for improvement. This is a case of being able to save numerous people’s lives.

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Last week Colin White, National Project Manager of the Irish Kidney Association (IKA), urged students to talk about organ donation with their loved ones should a situation arise where they may be able to donate an organ to someone in need.

“The key to success is to encourage discussion among families,

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“People can make a commitment by getting an organ donor card, or by downloading the Organ Donor E-card.

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Mr White explained that such options facilitate conversations within families, whereas recent Government proposals for an ‘opt-out’ system for donation may have the opposite effect.

White explained that the E-Card, available to download on Android and Apple devices, complements the existing plastic donor card.

The app allows users to commit to become an organ donor, and the IKA sends a free SMS message to the user’s next-of-kin to generate a conversation among family members.

White said the IKA has continually lobbied the Government to establish an Irish Organ Donor Registry.

The registry would allow potential organ donors to voluntarily identify themselves on a database, a system similar to the practice in many countries.

Criticising proposals for an opt-out system, White argued that it “doesn’t work in practice” and that “it discourages people from discussing organ donation within their families”.

The opt-out system works by assuming that everyone has given consent to donate their organs after death, whereas the current opt-in system allows a person to decide in advance if they would like to become organ donors by allowing someone to make the decision on their behalf after death.

White explained that creating awareness of organ donation through education is hugely important.

Citing a recent example of how education works, White outlined how students at Eureka Secondary School, Meath, created a

‘Bring Organ Donation into Education’ teaching pack.

The students plan on distributing the pack to every secondary school in the country before organ donation week in March of next year.

The pack includes education material that will seek to inform students about options available that would allow them to become organ donors.

The campaign can be followed on Twitter via @donorheroes, as well as on Facebook at Donor Heroes DCU. Further information can be found at donorhero.wordpress.com.