(201) Health 2021 Edition | Page 38

OR�A� DO�AT���
DONATING BLOOD IS LESS IN�ASI�E BUT CRITICALL� NEEDED
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�or more information , go to redcrossblood . org .

“ NEW JERSEY HAS BEEN AHIGH PERFORMER FOR DECADES IN BOTH DECEASED AND LIVING DONATIONS .”

DR� MIC�AEL �� GOLDSTEIN �IRECTOR OF THE �I�ISION OF AB�O�INAL OR�AN TRANSPLANTATION AT HAC�ENSAC� UNI�ERSITY �E�ICAL CENTER
and calls for New Jersey medical colleges to instruct students about donation and recovery . There ’ s also more information available about putting donation wishes into advanced directives and living wills .
New profusion technology that keeps deceased donor organs viable for longer is also in the works . “ We ’ ve had kidney pumps for 50 years , but they ’ ve approved a lung pump , are about to approve a heart device and are working on one for livers ,” says �oth .
And a new method of “ broader sharing ” is being used nationwide to match more donors with sick people in densely-populated areas who in the past might have waited longer for them , he says . “ New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the country , and we work with Black , Asian , Middle Eastern , Eastern European , and all different populations ,” says �oth . Now , instead of looking for people in need locally and then moving on , hospitals with donor organs to allocate use a system of concentric circles within 150 , �50 and 500 miles .
�esults have been positive . In �0�0 , despite the pandemic , NJ Sharing Network announced that 5�� organs were transplanted thanks to ��� deceased donors in the state� these include kidneys , livers , hearts , lungs , pancreases , corneas , skin and bone grafts , ligaments and tendons . This is an all-time record , and an increase of 31� over the last decade . In November , five New Jersey cities , including Newark , Jersey City and Edison , were among the top 10 highest in the country for inclusion in the National Donor �egistry .
“ Families who were reticent to donate have said that doing so helped bring some modicum of closure to the grief that comes from losing aloved one ,” says �oth . “ The loved one ’ s legacy lives on in another person .”
To sign up as afuture donor , go to Donate Life America , donatelife�net
�E A������ DO�OR �OR A�O�ED O�E
While deceased donor kidneys save lives , there are advantages to receiving one from a living donor . “ If you have a friend , family member or stranger who wants to come forward and donate to you , you don ’ t have to wait for a long time on a list and suffer ,” says ��MC ’ s Goldstein . “ A second benefit , he says , is that living donor kidneys function better immediately after the transplant , and last much longer ��0-�5 years �than ones from deceased donors , which function 10-15 years on average , often requiring another transplant . While some hospitals perform living donor liver , pancreas and lung transplants , he says , the vast majority of living donor transplants in � . S . hospitals are ofkidneys .
“ �istorically , deceased donations were more common , but now we ’ re very much focused on living donations ,” says Marian Charlton , manager of ��MC ’ s Clinical Living Donor Program . Charlton and nephrologist Dr . David Serur are national leaders in the field who were hired from Weill Cornell Medicine last year to head up the program .
There are multiple ways living donors can help the 100-140 referrals the hospital gets each month from nephrologists , dialysis units and the hopeful recipients themselves , who can self-refer or go to the National �idney �egistry and click “ I am in need of akidney transplant .”
“ �sually those in need ofatransplant come into the center with afew people who might be able to donate to them , such as a cousin or a spouse ,” says Goldstein . �ecipients are evaluated , and the donor candidates receive information on how to
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2021 EDITION ( 201 ) HEALTH