Organ donations will be in the spotlight Thursday in Wichita.
Midwest Transplant Network is hosting its annual Wichita Donation Symposium Thursday, Oct. 19, at Riverfront Stadium in the Fidelity Bank Bravely Onward Club. The symposium’s guest speakers are experts and professionals in organ, eye and tissue donation from MTN, and a keynote address, “The Gift of Perspective,” featuring Lindsey Roy, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Brand, Hallmark.
The event promises a full day of learning about organ, eye and tissue donation specifically for critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, hospital chaplains and more, that will impact how they work with and care for patients and families who are organ donors.
In the region, there are about 2,500 people in Kansas and Missouri on the transplant waitlist, and about 109,000 nationwide. MTN, a not-for-profit organ procurement organization, serves all of Kansas and parts of western Missouri, and is rated Tier 1A and no. 3 in the nation for organ donation and transplantation.
The symposium topics include: best practices to maximize the gift of organ donation; caring for donor families and enhancing family support; advances in organ donation technology; and innovations in organ recovery techniques.
Organ donors can save up to eight lives; tissue donors can impact more than 100 lives.
MTN is commemorating its 50th anniversary; more than 7,500 organ donors from MTN’s donor service area have contributed to over 28,000 lifesaving transplants since MTN’s inception in 1972. Additionally, more than 24,000 tissue donors have given gifts in this timeframe, enabling more than two million life-enhancing tissue transplants for burn victims, cancer survivors, individuals with sports-related injuries and more.
Organ donor heroes from MTN’s service area saved the lives of 13 people with an organ transplant in 1972; 50 years later, in 2022, that number was 972.