From booking an operating room to navigating the logistics of transport, organ donation is a complex task that requires a compassionate approach to care.
April 26, 2023
(LONDON, Ont.) - Right now, in Ontario over 1,400 people are waiting to receive a life-changing organ transplant. And when an organ becomes available, a variety of health care professionals must come together to facilitate the complex task of coordinating its transplant.
This is where Monica Freeman and her peers step up. Freeman’s role as a Transplant Donor Specialist at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) includes initiating the transplant process when an organ becomes available through Ontario Health -Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN). Freeman notifies transplant teams of the available organ, and if the organ is accepted for a patient at LHSC, she’ll then coordinate the donor and transplant surgeries.
In the operating room (OR), Freeman assists the transplant surgeon and ensures all of Health Canada’s regulations are met for the safe handling and transport of the organ. She packages and labels the precious cargo and makes sure it gets to the recipient OR as soon as possible. When an organ needs to travel to a recipient outside of LHSC, she works with the team at ORNGE to ensure planes are on the ground and available to transport the organ within the mandated timelines. Sometimes an organ is donated to a recipient in another part of the province and sometimes, it even travels across the country.
“Given the complexity of organ transplant, it really feels like we are moving mountains,” says Freeman, one of five Transplant Donor Specialists at LHSC. “We often cannot predict when an organ will become available, so we have to be nimble, and prepared to support this important work at a moment’s notice, ensuring above all else, compassion, respect and safety for our donors and recipients.”
When talking about organ donation, something commonly misunderstood is how many different layers of the system need to interact with one another and line up to make this life-changing work happen and deliver a viable organ to its recipient.
“Typically, the time frame from notification of a viable organ to identifying a recipient through Trillium Gift of Life Network to planning all of the testing and logistics of transport can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours,” says Freeman. “There are a number of checks and balances we have in place the ensure the viability and safety of the organ before transporting it to its recipient. Every organ has different timelines associated with it too – the heart, for example, has the quickest turnaround at only four to six hours. Ultimately, we work as fast as possible for every organ identified for donation and transplant at LHSC.”
The Transplant Donor Specialist role is also unique to LHSC. Together, they work as a team of five, ready to be deployed to support organ transplantation at a moment’s notice. Most hospitals rely on staff from TGLN to manage and coordinate the organ donation process. While Trillium is responsible for managing donor lists and coordinating organ donation across the province, Freeman and her peers work closely with Trillium staff and specifically support the transplant process.
When organs are donated and transplanted locally, Freeman gets to see the immediate impact of her work on the lives of patients right here at LHSC. One of the most rewarding parts of her job is seeing the life-changing difference a new organ can make for patients who were very sick before their transplant.
“As a Transplant Donor Specialist, I play a very unique role in the transplant process,” adds Freeman. “Seeing a patient awake in the unit after their transplant, working on a puzzle or laughing with their family – it’s amazing to see the journey that an organ takes to get to its recipient and the immediate impact it has on the health of a patient in just a matter of days - it’s truly life-changing.”
Ontario Health - Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) is the agency responsible for connecting, delivering and coordinating organ donation and tissue transplantation across the province. Learn more about Trillium Gift of Life Network here.
April is Be a Donor Month. Learn more about donation at beadonor.ca or register online to become an organ and tissue donor today.
For more information please contact:
Elizabeth (Beth) Summers
Senior Media Relations Consultant
London Health Sciences Centre
519-685-8500 x77767
media@lhsc.on.ca
