A virtual panel discussion on organ and tissue donation will be taking place on Wednesday, March 10 at 6pmCST. Scholarly Conversations: Take the Time to Talk- The Organ and Tissue Process is sponsored by Alpha Omicron Chapter, Saint Xavier University Alumni Relations, and Saint Xavier’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences.
The panelists include Dr. Harry Wilkins, President and CEO of Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, Robert Horsey, RN, BSN, CPTC, Indiana Donor Network, and Monica Fox, Director of Outreach and Government Relations National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. Cynthia Grobmeier, Professor of Communication at Saint Xavier and President of the MaddogStrong Foundation and donor Mom, will serve as the moderator.
This event invites all open to all Saint Xavier students, but is targeted specifically for nursing students, and students in the Health Sciences.
According to Grobmeier “The goal of the event is to help educate nurses, nursing majors and others with an interest in the medical field about organ and tissue donation so they can better understand the process from a variety of perspectives.”
Students can pre-register for the event by following this link: https://www.sxu.edu/calendar/index.php?eID=4019, as well as scanning the QR code on the event flyer.
Attending this event will afford nursing students the ability to earn one contact hour. Grobmeier added that “Those working in the medical field and students would benefit tremendously from the opportunity to not only learn about the clinical aspects of donation, but to hear the perspectives of a transplant recipient and a donor family, which are so important to learning how to navigate this emotional process.”
The panel discussion aims to dispel myths about organ donation by stressing the education of organ donation. “Organ donation is so often dramatized in movies and on television in ways that help perpetuate these myths” said Grobmeier.
Grobmeier continued “once people understand how the process really works, it is nearly impossible to still believe the myths.”
Grobmeier added “many of the myths surrounding donation, particularly about deceased donors, stem from not understanding how donors are matched with recipients and how someone becomes a donor.”
Grobmeier concluded “currently there are about 110,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, and the need for life-saving transplants is disproportionately high in our communities of color.”
The zoom link will be sent out after you’ve registered for the event. Please submit any question you may have to urprojects@sxu.edu