IN MOMENTS of the most acute grief, choices loved ones make continues to humble Ballarat’s intensive care unit team.
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Increasingly, Ballarat Health Services ICU doctors and nurses are finding families are seeking discussions about organ donation.
Victorians make up one third of deceased donors with a record number of life-saving transplants in Australian last year. Ballarat is on trend with the state with an rise in families consenting to donations.
BHS director of ICU Angus Richardson said being on the ward with families making such a decision was time his team viewed with great reverence. Each family’s decision, whatever it may be, is intensely personal. and in a time of high stress.
“This is a donation for some other person they don’t know. This is the gift of life: it could get someone off dialysis or allow someone to breathe again,” Dr Richardson said. “Our job, really, is to reflect and facilitate the family’s wishes and also to look after the our patient.
“When in that situation, talking about organ donation is part of that. The community is more aware and having more conversations about organ donations and their wishes. This is a time in someone’s life, and a family’s life, that is intensely emotional and requires care and professionalism.”
Dr Richardson said greater awareness, particularly led by organisations like DonateLife, to have openly speak with loved ones and consider organ donation made a big difference should a family ever be in such a position to explore the option.
He said knowing what a loved one wanted, when by definition they were unable to say themselves, could be like honouring a wish.
Dr Richardson and BHS nurse Rebecca Squire said working in ICU can be incredibly emotional but they always kept in mind they had a job to do – and their job was an incredible privilege.
Ms Squire, who is a clinical lead in organ donation, said it was important to support a family however they need, even if this is mostly to give a family space.
“Families are more and more bringing up questions of organ donation with us,” Ms Squire said.
The ICU team at BHS aspires for organ donation to become a part of end-of-life care decisions.
It can almost help sometimes, in the grief. It can be like a silver-lining for people who have lost a loved one, knowing they are helping other people save a loved one through that. It does provide some people comfort.
- Ballarat ICU nurse Rebecca Squire, a clinical lead in organ donation
More residents in Ballarat have signed up to become potential life savers than in any other Victorian town or suburb, data released last year showed.
This gives the ICU team hope and confirmation Ballarat people were increasing having the conversation with loved ones, becoming aware of each other’s wishes and becoming aware of what organ donation was about.
When a person was registered with DonateLife, their decision was upheld nine times out of 10 by family, according to Donate Life. But, when the family was unaware, more than half will decline organ and tissue donation.
- BELOW: The many faces of Ballarat affected by organ donation who have shared their incredibly personal experience in The Courier for awareness last year. Click on the image to learn their stories
Hope stems from Ballarat response
RECORD organ donation numbers in Ballarat are on trend with a rise in life-saving gifts in both Victoria and Australia.
Victorians make up a third of deceased organ donors nationwide. New figures from Australia’s Organ and Tissue Authority show 193 Victorian families made the decision to donate organs of their loved ones last year to save and transform 529 people’s lives. This builds on 387 lives saved from 148 Victoria donors a year earlier.
Ballarat Health Services nurse donation specialist Larna Woodyatt said community understanding for organ and tissue donation was a telling factor.
More residents in Ballarat had signed up to become potential life savers than in any other Victorian town or suburb last year. A total 655 Ballarat residents, not taking in the city’s wider region, had recorded their intentions to become a organ or tissue donor with the Australian Organ Donor Register
Family consent to uphold a loved one’s wishes has increased from 53 per cent to 68 per cent the past five years.
There are 1410 Australians waiting for a transplant and a further 12,000 people on dialysis.
AT A GLANCE
Almost everyone can help others through organ and tissue donation. The main factors are where and how a donor dies and the condition of their organs and tissue.
Far more people can donate tissue as eye and tissue donations can be made up to 24 hours after death, regardless of where death occurs.
For deceased organ donation, death must occur in hospital and under strict conditions.
All major religions support organ and tissue for transplantation.
For more details or to register to become a donor, visit donatelife.gov.au or call 1800 777 203.
If you previously recorded your wish to become an organ donor on your driver’s licence, you still need to join the Australian Organ Donor Register.
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