On the Highway of Life: This Lane is Reserved: November 2012

Transplant Hope: Use of social Media to save lives: The Impact

An article by Hélène Campbell

The Globe and Mail

November 2, 2012

The article by Hélène Campbell from the Globe and Mail talks about how her friends created a web site to raise money for the costs associated with needing a transplant. Hélène suffered from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a debilitating degeneration of the lungs. While waiting, she was unable to work and also had to relocate closer to the hospital for the health care needed to maintain her health until such time as the transplant takes place. The site “A lung story” became available on the web November 25, 2011. With the help of the media in Ottawa, it went from 100 views to nearly 30,000 views in just over a month. Realizing the impact that posting her story on-line had on the exposure to the needs of organ donors, they posted a video to the website. Using Facebook, Twitter and blogs, they sought out Justin Bieber to retweet the hash tags “#be an organ donor”. With his involvement, the organ donor cause became one of the top ten news topics and 326 donors added to the list. That is a 6.5 times more than the daily average. In February, after exposure on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, 720 new donors registered. By using social media, Hélène’s story went from an unknown personal story to a campaign for organ donations worldwide at no cost at all. The impact was huge.

Here is the video of her story Helene Campbell

After researching the topic, of organ donations, I didn’t realize you could register on line to be an organ donor. I carry a signed donor card in my wallet, but by registering, the decision to donate is kept in the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care database. My donor card may not be available when it is needed. Registering allows access of information to the appropriate people in a timely manner. The information is kept subject to the same privacy laws. It can only be accessed by Trillium Gift of Life Network after death or if death is imminent.

The Trillium Gift of Life website provides statistical information on organ donations such as

Wait lists
Type of organs in demand
Age groups of people waiting
Gender Statistics of those waiting

Currently the organ highest in need is the kidney with 1,081 people waiting followed by the liver with 217. (giftoflife.on.ca. 2012).
Notable; is that even though it seems heart transplants get the most press, there are currently only 60 people on that waiting list, yet 86 for a lung.

The site also provides the link to “beadonor”. The “Be a Donor” website is a part of the Service Ontario where a person registers as a donor. Community or organizations can create their own “Gift of 8” movement (the meaning being that one person can save eight lives). Information collected by Be a Donor is subject to the same privacy laws for Ontario. To register a person need only be 16 years of age and hold a valid health card.

Using social media definitely propelled Hélène’s story into the forefront for a short time and there is no doubt that social media was the reason. That being said, social media users are fickle and are always on the move to the next trend. Organ donations are an everyday important issue, the question is how do you keep the public interest?