August 2023 DonateLife Network update

• Introduction from the OTA CEO, Lucinda Barry
• OTA updates
• Network news
• Staff profile

Message from the OTA's CEO

What's coming up

Year to date data – January to August 2023 

Donation and transplant outcomes to the end of August 2023, while lower than peak outcomes reached in 2019, appear to be recovering post the declines experienced in COVID years (2020-22).  

• 334 deceased donors for Jan-Aug, a 20.6% increase on the same period in 2022  

• 914 transplant recipients for Jan-Aug, a 21.2% increase on the same period in 2022  

The DonateLife Audit data to the end of Aug 2023 shows a national consent rate of 55%, up from 53% during the same period in 2022. Other key metrics include:  

• 84% overall referral rate, up from 81% during the same period in 2022  

• 83% of staff raised discussions involved a Donation Specialist Nurse, up from 80% during the same period in 2022. 

Community engagement updates  

Jersey Day 

Jersey Day was celebrated across the country on Friday 1 September with hundreds of photos shared on social media channels in support of the day. Each Jersey Day we ask schools, clubs and workplaces across Australia to take part by encouraging their students, members and employees to wear their favourite sporting jersey.  

Jersey Day was inspired by 13-year-old Nathan Gremmo whose gift of life saved six people. Each year his family and friends join with sporting celebrities and supporters to inspire all Australians to talk about organ and tissue donation. 

Save the Date – Thank You Day  

With DonateLife Week now wrapped up, we’ve turned our thinking to Thank You Day which is coming up on Sunday 19 November.  

Thank You Day is primarily a social media campaign where we take the time to thank donors and their families for saying ‘yes’ to donation. Stay tuned for more details soon! 

Several jurisdictions will also be holding their 2023 Services of Remembrances in October and November. You can find details on the events page on our website. 

Saffron Day 

Saffron Day is fast approaching — held each year to encourage multicultural communities to talk about organ donation with their family and register to be an organ and tissue donor on the Australian Organ Donor Register. 

It is a day that honours 7-year-old Deyaan Udani, who tragically passed away while on a family holiday in India. He became an organ donor because his family remembered an important conversation they’d had when he was learning about organ donation at school in Sydney. Knowing it was something he would have wanted helped them with the decision to make it happen. His organs saved the lives of four other people. 

You can show your support by wearing orange, Deyaan’s favourite colour on Sunday 22 October. Let us know if your network will be dressing up and don’t forget to send us photos to share on our socials.  

Please email photos to OTA Communications inbox.    

Donation and Transplantation Conference  

If you weren’t able to attend this event, the conference recordings are now available for anyone to view. 

You can access the recordings here. 

The Janette Hall Professional Training and Development Scholarship – access funding for your professional development  

The Janette Hall Professional Training and Development Scholarship Program is provided in memory of Janette Hall, a donation specialist nurse who became an organ and tissue donor after she died in December 2010. The Scholarship was established by the OTA in 2011 to support the professional development of staff working within the DonateLife Network.  

The Scholarship, having undergone some changes, now consists of two funding rounds per year, running in February and August. These improvements will enable more DonateLife staff the opportunity to access financial support for their professional development and training.   

Applicants are encouraged to propose an activity that will increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities in organ donation, with a clear relevance to the OTA Strategy 2022-2027.   

Suitable applicants are nurses and allied health professionals (or other relevant professionals) who are currently employed and working as part of the DonateLife Network. 

Applicants may apply for funding for a domestic or international activity, including conferences, training courses, workshops, and study tours.  

The Scholarship round in July 2023 was very successful, with scholarships awarded to six recipients who applied for a broad range of activities that will greatly benefit the individuals, as well as the DonateLife Network. The funding varied from $775 to $9052 per recipient.  

Congratulations to the successful Scholarship recipients for this round: 

1. Verity Shugg (TAS) will be attending online grief and bereavement professional development courses. 

2. Kathrin Lawson (VIC) will be attending ISODP in Las Vegas in October 2023 to present an oral presentation titled ‘Automated notifications to DonateLife staff of Emergency Department patients undergoing end-of-life-care’. Kathrin was awarded ‘Best Oral Presentation’ for this project at the 2023 Organ Donation and Transplantation Conference in Melbourne in May 2023. 

3. Justine Holloway (VIC) will be attending online courses in staff engagement and strengths coaching to improve staff retention and performance. 

4. Toula Saltas (VIC) will be attending ISODP in Las Vegas in October 2023. 

5. Nicole Bulley (QLD) will be attending the Transplant Procurement Management Advanced International Training Course in Barcelona. 

6. Kate Bird (QLD) will be attending the Transplant Procurement Management Advanced International Training Course in Barcelona. 

The current Scholarship Guideline and other relevant documents can be found online in the DonateLife Learning Module Site. 

The DonateLife Network Roles and Responsibilities document  

The purpose of the national program is to deliver a best practice approach to organ and tissue donation for transplantation. Created in 2014, the DonateLife Network roles and responsibilities 2023 document outlines expectations for roles and responsibilities of the positions funded by the Commonwealth as a part of a consistent national approach. 

The DonateLife Leadership and the OTA recently reviewed and updated the document. It’s important to note:  

• it informs and compliments the local jurisdictional position descriptions  

• it is the role of the jurisdiction to develop and manage position descriptions to meet these national expectations, local performance and reporting requirements 

• as this is a national document, not all positions are relevant to all jurisdictions. 

The DonateLife Network roles and responsibilities 2023 document can be found in the ‘Other Resources’ page of the DonateLife Network resources on the DonateLife Learning Module Site.  

Once you login, click on the ‘DonateLife Network resources’ tab on the top of the page, then click on the ‘Other Resources’ box on the bottom right of the icons. Once you are on the page, you will find the DonateLife Network roles and responsibilities document at the first dot point on the page. 

DonateLife Week 23-30 July – wrap up 

This year, we asked Australians: can you donate 1 minute to give someone else a lifetime? In addition to asking Australians to register, our campaign encouraged Australians to have the conversation about donation, with a focus on motivating unregistered but engaged supporters (someone who is aware of DonateLife and supports organ and tissue donation but hasn’t registered).  

Our 2023 campaign activities aligned to three overarching themes – awareness, registration & celebration, and conversation.   

Awareness  

We achieved media exposure of almost 1 billion throughout July, almost doubling the media reach achieved in 2022. This smashed our awareness goal out of the park – 81 per cent over our projected target! 

To achieve mass awareness, the media campaign featured: 

• new case studies provided exclusively to media outlets (pitching) 

• state & territory event promotion (including Ministerial launch event) 

• hyperlocal data release (jurisdictional media releases + pitching). 

Launching the PR campaign, the week before DonateLife Week instead of the start of July generated far more media coverage compared to 2022 and 2021. 

Journalists and media outlets saw the news value in the timely pitches, media alerts, releases and event promotion activities. 

Streamlining campaign duration was a successful strategy that ensured the campaign appeared fresh and newsworthy to journalists, producers, chief-of-staffs and editors, which, in turn, generated a large volume of quality campaign media coverage. 

Registration and celebration 

We achieved 51,748 registrations between June and August, which is a 10 per cent increase on the previous 3 months. 

Each state and territory celebrated by hosting its own launch event, with Queensland also hosting the national launch. Launch events varied, with Victoria hosting a Street Heart laneway activation, as well as a media only event at the Royal Melbourne Hospital celebrating 60 years since the first deceased kidney transplant. Most states and territories took an ‘active’ approach to the launch of DonateLife Week with the ACT hosting an inaugural Cycle Challenge, WA hosting an inaugural Gift of Life Walk, SA holding its annual DonateLife Week, and Queensland racing around the Brisbane CBD with its Amazing Race.  

NT also went with a sporting theme, hosting a stall at the Theodore Kassaras Memorial Cup in Darwin, which was telecast and gained separate media coverage, and Alice Springs hosted three trivia nights with a DonateLife round. NSW took a slightly different tact, launching at Campbelltown Hospital with local MPs and nursing staff, gaining national coverage. 

Regional areas, particularly in Queensland, also hosted a number of events. Cairns and the Sunshine Coast using their local radio stations to run an outside broadcast, with Sunshine Coast Lightning team members attending the broadcast on the coast and speaking live-to-air about their support for organ and tissue donation. 

Each year, monuments light up magenta to celebrate DonateLife Week. The light ups are used for social media posts, as well as providing quick stories for local radio and council newsletters and website coverage. This year we collectively lit up 48 monuments across the country.   

Conversation 

We achieved strong cut-through with the call to have a conversation with family about donation, with at least 1 in 3 media reports promoting this core message. 

One of the most powerful stories was seen on The Project, with donor mum Wendy Smith telling her story of son Antonio who had boasted to his family the day he updated his driver licence, showing he was a registered organ donor. He challenged his mother and brother asking them if they had registered. Months later Antonio was critically injured in a sporting accident. His family knew exactly what his wishes were and donated his organs and tissue. 

People are at the heart of everything we do during DonateLife Week. We thank all the donor families, transplant recipients and staff who shared their extraordinary stories to encourage more Australians to talk about organ and tissue donation.   

Please let us know what you thought of DonateLife Week this year – what worked well, what didn’t and what we can do to improve next year. Email us at communications@donatelife.gov.au 

DonateLife NT

Darwin Pride 

DonateLife NT team members were amongst approximately 1,000 people that marched in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community in June. A fun and colourful family day was held in Civic Park on Sunday 25 June, with constant visitors to the DonateLife NT stall throughout the day. 

Many interesting conversations were held, with the opportunity to do some myth busting and share important information around becoming an organ donor. It was great to see the positive reaction from one visitor, after a discussion that informed them HCV/HIV did not exclude them from registering as an organ donor.  

Once again, the spinning wheel quiz was popular, with the DonateLife tote bags displaying the Pride progress flag – this was the favourite piece of merchandise on the day. Other merchandise created specifically for the community also proved popular. A significant number of people we met made the decision to register and make their wishes known. 

This is the first year DonateLife NT has engaged with the LGBTQIA+ community in the Northern Territory, through attendance at Darwin Pride and the fabALICE Festival. This is a space DonateLife NT will continue to actively engage, as it provides the opportunity to deliver current information and dispel any myths around organ donation within the queer community. 

DonateLife QLD

National Launch  

DonateLife Week officially kicked off at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney and Queensland Minister for Health Shannon Fentiman MP jointly launched the start of the Week alongside young liver recipient Harrison, and kidney recipient Cairo. The launch featured on Ch 7, Ch9 and 10 News First, along with a photo in the Courier-Mail. 

DonateLife Week in Queensland 

Media interviews, stalls, DonateLife coffee cups and landmarks lit up in magenta – all of this for DonateLife Week!  

NAIDOC Week 

In early July, our Donation Specialist Nurses held stalls and talks at NAIDOC events across the state. Cairns local Anthony, who has had his kidney for 42 years, helped us out at a DonateLife stall as part of a community event.  

Juiced TV Filming 

Liver recipient and Gold Coast Suns fan, Zach, got the opportunity to play host with the Queensland Children’s Hospital TV channel - Juiced TV. Alongside Zach was liver transplant coordinator Charlton Noble from QCH who answered tricky questions from fellow young recipients.  

You can watch the Juiced episode here. 

NITV Filming 

Donor family Aunty Pat and Uncle Billy, and kidney recipient Ray from Cairns, were interviewed by NITV ahead of DonateLife Week. It was so great to hear from them about raising awareness of organ and tissue donation among indigenous communities. 

QPS Partnership 

As part of our ongoing partnership with the Queensland Police Service (QPS), we supported donor wife Sonya Leeding at her book launch. We also produced a DonateLife video with Sonya, State Agency Manager Tina, a living donation family and a recipient family.  

You can watch the video on the QPS Facebook page here. 

Volunteer online training sessions and our packing day 

We held two online training sessions for our volunteers – ‘how to speak with the media’ in June and ‘how to speak to the community and run a stall’ in July. Our volunteers were engaged and provided feedback they had benefited from the sessions. These were planned to prepare them ahead of DonateLife Week. 

Media training for DonateLife staff 

We ran an online media training session for our QLD DonateLife Agency. We created handy cheat sheets for the team and our volunteers for when a media opportunity arises. 

Amazing Race Launch 

12 teams competed in our Amazing Race launch, with the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Operating Theatre team taking out the win! Guests for our race included James Martin MP, Dr Dennis Young AM, Elder Aunty Pat, Nick Brown from the OTA Advisory Board and the beautiful faces of the national campaign, along with our Community Champions.  

Staff movement 

We welcomed Elle, a new Donation Specialist Coordinator, to our team in July! Elle came to us from the DonateLife Victoria team. Donation Specialist Coordinator Shaun is on a four-month secondment as the clinical manager in the Northern Territory while Shan takes a well-deserved long service leave break. 

DonateLife SA

Donut Day 

Every year during DonateLife Week, DonateLife SA provides donuts to the clinical teams as a gesture of recognition and acknowledgment and to say ‘thank you’ for the compassion and care given to all patients at end of life.  

On Monday 24 July, The Hon Chris Picton, SA Minister for Health and Wellbeing and Lesley Dwyer, CEO of Central Adelaide Local Health Network handed out donuts to Royal Adelaide Hospital staff to share the love with the amazing clinicians who support family members throughout the donation process. Complimentary donuts for ED and ICCU staff were provided to all metropolitan hospitals as a thank you for their support throughout the year. The staff love to get involved and wear the promotional DonateLife t-shirts, caps and beanies. 

University of Adelaide x DonateLife SA coffee activation 

On Wednesday 26 July, DonateLife SA attended the YouXEvents Midwinter BBQ on the Barr Smith Lawns at the University of Adelaide. This was a free event for all University of Adelaide students and included a BBQ lunch and some fabulous festivities – even a petting zoo!  

The Mid-Year Orientation event coincided perfectly with DonateLife Week. Alana and Dale from DonateLife SA were there raising awareness around organ and tissue donation, which included a coffee activation with Caffettiera Espresso Carts who served up delicious complimentary coffees to the students. It was a fantastic opportunity to speak with hundreds of students to promote DonateLife Week and chat with them about the importance of organ donation. 

Spotlight on Sharon  

Meet Sharon Lothian, our Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator who commenced her employment with DonateLife SA in March 2023. Originally from the UK, Sharon was in The British Army for 12 years prior to studying Nursing. Sharon has 20 years Nursing experience, 18 in ICU. Sharon emigrated to Australia in 2012 with her husband. Sharon has 2 dogs and a cat. She also enjoys beach walks with dogs and a good bottle of wine with friends. 

DonateLife ACT

Reconciliation Day 

Tara Russell, Donor Specialist Nurse Coordinator and volunteer Graeme Smith from Gift of Life attended Reconciliation Day at the National Arboretum. Despite it being a windy Canberra winter day, there were many attendees enjoying the festivities. The DLACT information stall was very well attended with most people coming to tell us that they were ‘already registered’. A lovely young family also visited to introduce their young kids to the concept of organ donation as their dad received a kidney over 10 years ago.  

The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) training session 

The team undertook a half day HBDI training session, to take us through the results of the psychometric assessment we had completed individually.  The team learned about individual thinking preferences and how everyone has different ways of perceiving and assimilating information to make decisions and solve problems.  It was a fun, interactive and extremely valuable session – thank you to Erin Riley Consulting. 

Reflection of the Conference 

Some of the DonateLife ACT team went to Melbourne for the 2023 Donation and Transplantation Conference. It was lovely seeing and meeting others within the DL network and being able to be part of such a wonderful and informative couple of days. 

DonateLife NSW

The Gift of Life in NSW 

The NSW launch of Donate Life Week at Campbelltown Hospital was a great success. 

Local MP, the Member for Camden Sally Quinnell started by encouraging everyone to register as donors. Amanda Larkin, the Chief Executive of the hospital, congratulated her donation specialist teams who have dramatically increased the rate of donation into end- of-life care in in South Western Sydney LHD. 

Danielle Fisher, the General Manager of the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service, reminded attendees that organ and tissue donation can truly transform and save lives. 

“One donor alone can save up to seven lives and help many more through eye and tissue donation,” Danielle said. 

A local family, Rupesh and Mili Udani, then shared their story about how donation and being able to save other lives brought them comfort following the death of their seven-year-old son. 

During Donate Life Week, staff across NSW had the chance to meet donation specialists at information stalls. Cupcakes were delivered to intensive care units, emergency departments and operating theatres to recognise the work of our critical care staff to support donation in end-of-life care and encourage conversations about donation. 

Service NSW also ran a two-week campaign supporting Donate Life Week, including a prominent tile in the Service NSW app that linked people to the Australian Organ Donor Register. 

The Donate Life promotional tile received almost 100,000 clicks during a similar campaign in 2022, linking thousands of people from the Service NSW app through to the national register. 

A path with heart 

Meet Leanne Holloway, one of the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service’s new volunteers. 

Leanne became one of our volunteers after losing her beloved sister Melinda earlier this year. Melinda Matthews was just 46 years old when she died suddenly after haemorrhaging at work. 

While she was on life support in the Intensive Care Unit of Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital, Melinda’s family gathered to say their final farewells.  

It was then that a nurse told Leanne and her family that her sister was registered as a donor and asked if they would like to honour her wishes. 

“We didn’t know she was a donor, but it was a no-brainer for us to say yes,” Leanne said.  

Melinda’s liver was donated to an adult, a double lung transplant saved the life of a critically ill adult, and both her kidneys improved the lives of a teenager and an adult. Her heart valves were also donated.  

In the process, Leanne has found that knowing her sister is living on in other people is deeply comforting. The care and support she received from the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Services prompted her to put her hand up as a volunteer to spread the word. 

“Our family wants as many people as possible to know how valuable, and how meaningful organ donation can be,” she said. 

DonateLife TAS

Thanking hospital teams who support donation. 

As part of DonateLife Week, the state-wide DonateLife team visited the many clinical teams at the Royal Hobart and Launceston General Hospitals who support donation in Tasmania. We provided thankyou DonateLife cupcakes and cake, to recognise the continuing valuable contributions of many hospital teams and units.    

DonateLife Week 

Tasmania was ablaze with DonateLife magenta during July, with the whole state saturated by building illumination, CBD banners, bus ads, billboards, footy promotions, posters, media stories, hospital promotions and coffee shop sticker activations. 

Staffing update 

We welcomed Sarah Cullen, a Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator from Launceston General Hospital, who moved from Launceston to Hobart in mid-July. 

Jenna Hughes remains at Launceston General Hospital and has been joined by Grace Southwell who returned from maternity leave in early September. 

DonateLife WA

DonateLife Week 

We launched DonateLife Week with a Gift of Life Walk. Parliamentary Secretary Mr Simon Millman launched the event on behalf of Amber-Jade Sanderson. Overall, 84 people registered and some of the Parliamentary Friends and committee members from the Parliamentary Inquiry into Organ and Tissue Donation also attended. 

Our first interview for DonateLife Week was the top story on Perth Now, featuring double transplant recipient Clare Duggan – 7 years on. 

NAIDOC Week 

DonateLife WA joined forces with Public Health and State Head Injury teams at a shared information table, presenting the new Aboriginal resources – Let’s have a Yarn about organ and tissue donation – to the community.  

Tree Planting and Thanksgiving Ceremony 

On behalf of DonateLife WA, the Heart Lung Transplant Foundation of WA conducted this annual event honouring donors and their families. Approximately 250 recipients and donor families attended this beautiful event. 

Armadale Grand Round 

Dr David Blythe and guest speakers Jam De Asis (Liver recipient) and living kidney donation family spoke of their personal journeys through waitlist and transplant. This was a Very moving session for all staff listening to their journey.  

Country Women’s Association State Conference 

DonateLife WA were invited to have an information/activation at this 2-day conference in July, where many ladies checked their registration and registered for the first time. There were several ladies who had been affected by donation or transplant who also got up and spoke at the Conference about the importance of registering and talking to family, which was very touching.  

Transplant Australia WA Branch monthly membership meeting  

A presentation delivered by DonateLife WA, PlusLife and Lions Eye Bank was very well received by the membership. 

June updates 

DonateLife WA and heart recipient Brett Driessen presented to staff at the Australian Submarine Corporation, and later set up a registration activation in the staff canteen. 

DonateLife WA also attended the Mindarie Senior High School Health Expo. Year 11 and 12 students learned all about organ and tissue donation through quizzes and questions. 

DonateLife VIC

Street Heart laneway activation 

To launch DLW 2023, the Marketing and Communications Team fixed a number of magenta resin DonateLife hearts to walls in a selection of Melbourne’s laneways that are known for their colourful street art – hence the name Street Heart! 

Each street heart had a sticker beside it that displayed a unique QR code. When the QR code is scanned, it took people directly to an exclusive donor story on the DonateLife website. 

The story was about Sime Thornton, a prolific Melbourne Street artist/cartoonist, who died suddenly last year and became an organ and tissue donor. Sime was known for placing his hand-drawn cartoons in laneways around the city to bring joy to people who saw them. 

The public were encouraged to: 

• search for a Street Heart 

• scan the QR code to read the story, and 

• register to become an organ and tissue donor and tell their family.  

Events and partnerships 

To close DLW, our sporting partners the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm did their bit raise awareness about the importance of registering to become and organ donor at their weekend matches. Thanks to our amazing volunteers for handing out ‘GOAL’ and ‘TRY’ cards at these games. 

Lighting up Melbourne 

Some of Melbourne’s most iconic monuments were lit up in magenta at the start of DLW. Luna Park, Flinders Street Station, the MCG, the Bolte Bridge, and the Old Treasury building looked amazing in our magenta colours. 

Parliamentary inquiry update 

Recent public hearings for the Parliament of Victoria Inquiry into increasing the number of registered organ and tissue donors were held on Friday 25 August and Monday 11 September. 

Staff updates 

We welcomed Ivana Hrvatin and Natalie Moran to the DLV team at St Vincent’s and Monash Health respectively in July.  

Brad Allen, our Nurse Donation Specialist (NDS) in Bendigo, sadly left the team in July.  

Jodi Vuat also left the NDS role at Peninsula Health in August. Jodi had been in the donation sector for more than 14 years and contributed to successes in donation at Frankston Hospital. We wish Jodi and Brad all the best and thank them for their service. 

This update is a snapshot of news from across the DonateLife Network. We’d also like to continually improve our monthly update, and we welcome your feedback. 

If you have an update to share, get in touch with your state or territory communications rep or email the OTA communications team.

Back to the DonateLife Network update homepage

These updates are distributed to DonateLife staff across Australia, via the contact details within the DonateLife Learning Site. To update this distribution list, please speak to the education coordinator in your jurisdiction. We thank you for not sharing this update with anyone outside of the network.