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Recycle Yourself

Save lives through organ, eye, and tissue donation!

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Transplant Centers

Organ, eye, and tissue recovery professionals

Registers donors & educates the public about donation. We work with…

DMV

How many of you have heard of Donate Life Northwest (raise your hands)?

Donate Life Northwest is a small non-profit organization that does incredibly important work! We help people register as donors, and provide free educational programs to schools, communities, businesses, faith centers, and media around the state of Oregon and in SW Washington.

Many great partners help us save lives:

Organ, eye, and tissue procurement organizations

These are the medical professionals who oversee the actual donation process.

Cascade Life Alliance (formally PNTB): coordinates organ transplants

VisionGift (formerly Lions Vision Gift): coordinates cornea and eye tissue donations and conducts research

Solvita (formerly Community Tissue Services): coordinates tissue donations

Transplant centers: Only four hospitals in the state perform transplant surgeries, and not all kinds of transplants are done in Oregon.

Oregon Health & Science University = kidney, liver, heart
Legacy Good Samaritan= kidney
Providence = heart
Portland VA = kidney & liver (for veterans)

If you need a lung transplant you must fly to Seattle or California.

DMV: when you go to the DMV to get your driver’s permit, license, or ID card, you’ll be asked by our partners at DMV whether you want to be a donor. 74% of Oregonians with a driver’s license and 75% of Washingtonians with a driver’s license say YES to donation!

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Do you have a “D” or a on your license?

After I die, I wish to donate organs, eyes, and/or tissues to save someone’s life, restore someone’s vision, and/or restore someone’s mobility.

D

It’s partly thanks to our amazing partnership with the DMV that I’m here today! If you care to share, how many of you already have a driver’s permit, license, or ID?

How many of you have a “D” or a heart?

If you haven’t been to the DMV, then you should know that when you go to get your permit, license, or ID, they will ask you (and the form you fill out will too) “Do you wish to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor?”

Saying yes means you are joining the Donate Life Northwest Registry, and confirming that (click text)

After I die, I wish to donate…

When you register at the DMV you are agreeing that you want to donate organs, corneas, and tissue. If you would like the option to choose what you feel comfortable donating, you should register online, where there is a checklist of options for donation.

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Why Don’t People Register?

Fears, Myths, and Misinformation

TV and movies

Concern over medical care�
Religious beliefs about donation�
Don’t think they are eligible�
Don’t want to think about death�
Don’t know how to sign up

Although people in our region often register, they do not always talk to their families about donation. Some people do not want to register at all. Why do you think that is? How do you think people usually learn about donation (if they are not lucky enough to have us visit their classroom?)

At Donate Life Northwest, we hear a lot of interesting reasons… and sadly, most are based in fears, myths, and incorrect information! It is very common for people to believe what they see in movies or on TV.

*Click through each bullet point

Points for further discussion:

Why does Hollywood portray donation so incorrectly?
Doctors are not involved in the donation process. They do everything they can to save your life, and do not know (or care) if you are a registered donor! In fact, they don’t have access to the registry.
All major religions in the US support donation for the purpose of a life-saving transplant.
Age or past medical issues may not prevent your ability to donate.
You don’t have to wait to go to the DMV to register. In Oregon, you can become a registered donor at the age of 13 at donatelifenw.org or by filling out a paper form.

Other Facts you can discuss:

Donation costs your family nothing.
Buying or selling organs is a federal crime.
Donation does not interfere with funeral arrangements.

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The Need for Organ Donors

Every 8 minutes, someone is added to the waiting list.

On average, 16 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

Ask students to raise their hand if they know someone impacted by donation or transplant. If they are willing, invite them to share their story.

The need for healthy, transplantable organs has reached crisis levels throughout the United States. As you can see, since the 1990s, the number of deceased and living donors has stayed somewhat constant, whereas the number of people needing an organ transplant has risen dramatically. There are MANY waiting for an organ transplant, but comparatively few donors.

This data shows ONLY the number of people on the waiting list for organ transplants.
This data does NOT reflect the hundreds of thousands more people who could benefit from tissue and cornea transplants.
Neither does it reflect those WAITING to be placed on the waiting list!

Based on UNOS numbers

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020�Living Donors 3496 5957 6904 6562 5992 5728�Deceased Donors 5363 5985 7593 7943 9079 12588�Transplants 19396 23266 28118 28662 30973 39035�Waiting List 41203 74078 90526 110375 122071 108000

According to DLA in 2023 more than 46,000 organ transplants from 23,000 donors brought new life to patients.

February 2025 OPTN numbers: 104,312 candidates are on the national waitlist. In Oregon, 951 candidates are on the waitlist.

For the most current national and state data, visit https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/

https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/state-data/.

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86% of everyone waiting needs

a kidney

�People in the US are increasingly at risk for preventable conditions which eventually lead to kidney failure:

Type II Diabetes*
High Blood Pressure*

Due to systemic racism and health inequities, Hispanic, African, Asian, and Native Americans are up to 3x more likely to suffer from these conditions.

* Can be prevented or delayed by staying at a healthy weight, eating well, and getting exercise.

Alarmingly, there is even more of a need with some racial and ethnic groups, due to a high incidence of conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, both of which can lead to the need for a kidney transplant.

African, Native, Asian, and Hispanic Americans are about 3 times more likely to suffer from end-stage kidney disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions that can damage the kidneys.

60% of people on the national transplant waiting list are from multicultural communities and reflect only 30% of the number of transplant recipients. Until these percentages are equal, this is an inequity.

Systemic racism and numerous inequities in the healthcare system has led to a decrease in access to healthy choices and access to healthcare. These, and a variety of other factors, such as mistrust in the medical system, contribute to the higher rates of these conditions. By acknowledging this fact, we can work toward an equitable system. UNOS has recognized inequities in organ allocation and has recently changed the algorithms by which they determine the candidate in the most need for an organ as well as restructuring geographic boundaries for transplant centers.

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What is it like waiting?

Alysia’s Story

The Waiting List

Doctors refer sick patient to a transplant center.�
A committee of doctors, surgeons, and hospital staff decide whether a patient is a candidate for transplant.�
A transplant candidate is added to the national waiting list.�
People stay on the national waiting list for days, months, or even years.

Discussion prompt:

How do you imagine it must feel, waiting and hoping you’ll get your lifesaving transplant? Ask students for adjectives (scary, nervewracking, etc.)

Playing the “Alysia’s story” video is optional; it is 1 minute, 32 seconds long.

Being placed on the waiting list is not automatic. Because there are so few organs available, professionals must be sure that an individual is stable – emotionally, physically and financially – in order to ensure that they can take care of their new organ for the rest of their life.

Playing the “How the national organ transplant waiting list works” video is optional, it is 1 minute, 35 seconds long.

Frequently Asked Questions

What determines whether people get on the list?

This decision is based on the status of the patient’s health, his or her medical and social history, and the expectation of their stability after the transplant takes place.

How long do people stay on the waiting list?

Those on the national waiting list may wait days, months, or even years. Many medical and logistical criteria impact the time an individual spends on the waiting list, including: • Blood type and size of organ needed • Distance between donor and recipient • Medical urgency • Immune-system matching UNOS provides detailed statistics on the waiting list.

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Local Heroes

Over 3 million Oregonians are registered donors

≈ 42,000 Oregonians died in 2024

1,608 cornea donors = 1,569 corneal transplants

706 tissue donors ≈ 165,579 tissue transplants

194 organ donors = 836 organ transplants

How many lives are impacted by donation in the Pacific Northwest?

Cornea transplants are transplants made possible in the PNW (service area of Oregon and SW Washington), not necessarily occurring in Oregon. Note that sometimes corneas are donated and used for research.

Tissue can also be preserved in such a way that it can be transplanted outside the PNW, and the transplant total reflects national distribution.

Before revealing the number of organ donors, ask the students to guess how many they think there were, given how many people are registered to be donors.

The total number of organ transplants reflects the service area of Oregon, SW Washington, and Idaho.

Nationally, less than 1% of the general population upon their death are eligible to be organ donors; while being a tissue/cornea donor is much more common.

Ask students, why is this number so low?

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True or False:

Organ donation is very common.

False. Not everyone who dies can donate organs, because they must die under very specific circumstances.

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Criteria for Organ Donation

Donor died in a hospital.

Donor was placed on mechanical ventilator prior to death.

Blood and oxygen continue to flow through the vital organs.

Donor died due to severe brain damage.

Electricity, blood and oxygen irreversibly cease to flow.

Two circumstances must come together in order for someone to be considered a potential organ donor:

The donor must die in a hospital and have been placed on a mechanical ventilator prior to death. In many cases, the person dies of brain death due to a variety of causes (see below) which would potentially allow all six organs to be donated. Recently, there have also been more DCD donors (According to CLA 35% of donors). A donor after cardiac death (DCD) is a donor who has suffered devastating and irreversible brain injury and may be near death, but does not meet formal brain death criteria. In these cases, the family has decided to withdraw care. When the patient's heart stops beating, the organs are then recovered in the operating room. The surgeons involved in transplantation cannot be part of the end-of-life care or in the declaration of death. This type of donation does not cause or hasten death. Organs recovered from a donor after cardiac death have some degree of oxygen deprivation during the time after the heart stops beating. This may make kidneys from this type of donor "slow to start".

Brain death is usually the result of a severe trauma which causes brain tissues to swell. Some examples:

Trauma: for example, a severe head injury during a motor vehicle accident.
Cerebrovascular injury: massive bleeding caused by a stroke or ruptured aneurysm.
Anoxia: loss of oxygen to the brain caused by drowning, a heart attack or drug overdose.
Uncontrollable growth of a brain tumor that causes permanent loss of blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

When the brain is injured, it responds in much the same way as an injury like a twisted ankle: it swells. Unlike the

muscles and tissues of the ankle, however, the brain is in a confined space – the skull – and has no room to swell.

As the brain swells inside the skull, it pushes downward toward the brain stem blocking all upward flow of blood.

Depending on the type of injury, this may happen within minutes or over a period of days. Even while the heart is still

beating and supplying blood to the rest of the body, blood that carries oxygen cannot reach the brain or the brain

stem, which controls heart rate and breathing. The result is that the brain, and therefore the person, dies.

Because brain death is not a common occurrence, viable organ donors are rare.

Brain death can be a confusing concept, because a brain dead person on a ventilator can feel warm to the touch

and can look “alive.” Their heart beats, and it appears as though they are breathing. Why is this? Because the

individual was placed on a mechanical ventilator prior to death, the ventilator is pushing air into the lungs, making

the person’s chest rise and fall, allowing the heart to continue to beat. However, once the mechanical ventilator is

removed, the heart will stop due to lack of oxygen.

- See the Recycle Yourself: A Guide to Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation for more information.

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Criteria for Tissue Donation

Donor died at home, in a care facility, or in a hospital.

Donor does not need to be placed on a mechanical ventilator prior to death.

Donor died due to a variety of causes.

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Next Steps

If someone CAN be an organ donor…

A separate team comes in�
The registry is checked�
The family is approached

If under 18, the family will be asked to authorize donation�

TALK TO YOUR FAMILY TODAY!

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Organ Recovery

The recovery surgery takes place in an operating room, in the same sterile and careful way as in any surgery.

There are no costs to the family for the donation process.

Being an organ or tissue donor does not interfere with �funeral arrangements.

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Which Organs Can be Donated?

Discussion suggestions:

Have students identify the organs.
Ask students why they think someone would need a heart transplant (or lung, pancreas, liver, kidney or intestine…).
If you are a recipient, this is a great time to talk about what brought you to need a transplant.

See Recycle Yourself: A Guide to Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation to learn more about common reasons for transplant, per organ.

FYI – students will almost always cite “alcoholism” as a reason people need liver transplants. This is an important myth to diffuse.

First of all, leading causes for needing a liver transplant are non-fatty liver disease (cirrhosis which develops due to poor diet and lack of exercise) and Hepatitis.
Alcoholics in need of a new liver are by no means automatically placed on the waiting list. They must demonstrate sobriety for over a year before they can even be considered a transplant candidate! There are so few livers available to save lives that doctors must ensure that transplant candidates will take good care of this precious gift. Needing a transplant and being officially placed on the waiting list are not automatically mutual.

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One organ donor ��can save up to 8 lives

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John’s Story

What is a Cornea?

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True or False:

Donated corneas can restore �sight to the blind.

True. When the cornea is damaged due to injury, disease, infection or a hereditary condition, corneal transplant surgery may be an option.

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Jan’s Story

Which tissues can be donated?

Optional: Jan’s Story, 1 minute, 28 seconds

Tissues, clockwise from top left: bone, heart valve, tendons and ligaments (ACL), veins/arteries (far right), nerve, skin

Have students guess at what each tissue is, and have them suggest what someone might need each donated tissue for. Examples, and more details below.

Bone: Bones can be recovered and processed for many uses. Bone tumors which would have required amputation in the past are now replaceable due to donated bone. Bone can also be used in spinal surgeries, hip replacements, knee replacement, and dental surgery.

Heart valves: Babies may be born with heart defects and may require a donated heart valve to survive.

The picture of the leg represents tendons/ligaments and cartilage. The ACL (pictured) can be used for athletes who have torn theirs. (ACLs can also be repaired in other ways; using a donated ACL is just one of the ways). Other tendons may be used for reconstruction of rotator cuff, knee ligaments, and Achilles Tendon repair. Cartilage (also pictured) can be donated and used to help repair joints.

Veins/Arteries: repair of veins and arteries to improve circulation if there is disease, injury, or blockage

Nerves: Provides a pathway for nerves to reconnect due to injury or surgery. Restores peripheral nerve, muscle, organ function. Restores sensory feeling!

Skin: donated skin (taken unobtrusively from a donor, only the thickness of a piece of paper) is used as a biological bandage, preventing infection and allowing them to heal until their own skin can grow back. Donated skin is removed from areas usually hidden by clothing (back, back/front of legs, buttocks, and tops of thighs; sometimes the front of the trunk and the back of the arms). Donation of the skin does NOT interfere with funeral viewing arrangements.

This is just a sample of what type of tissue can be recovered. The list of bone, cardiovascular (valves arteries and aorta tissue), skin, tendons, connective tissue, ligaments, nerves, as well as fresh allografts is quite extensive.

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One tissue and eye donor

can save or enhance over 125 lives

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Grandparents can be donors

True or False:

True. No one should rule themselves out due to age, health, medical conditions, gender, or sexual orientation! Additionally, the criteria required for organ donation do not apply to tissue and eye donation.

Answer: True! Every day, Donate Life Northwest receives calls from elderly people who no longer want to be donors, because they say, “I’m too old… nobody would want my kidneys!”

First, there is no way of knowing if someone may die in the right circumstances to become a donor, and if so, they will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis as to whether or not they can be an organ donor. Additionally, they can likely still save lives through TISSUE or EYE donation.

Why is this?

Essentially, the criteria required for organ donation do not apply to tissue and eye donation.

The person does not have to pass away in a hospital – could be hospice, home, hospital, etc.
The person can pass away from natural causes.
Even having certain diseases – cancer, Lyme disease, etc. – may not prevent you from being able to donate tissue or eyes! Many tissues (cornea, cartilage, etc.) are avascular, meaning no blood runs through them, so they are not impacted by some diseases.
Organ donation is not ruled by the FDA, like eye and tissue donation. Potentially, organs from a drug overdose or even an IV drug user who has passed could be recovered if that organ is healthy enough. In a case like this, the organ bank would have the recipient sign a high-risk waiver because the organ is considered life-saving, as opposed to eye or tissue, where it is life-enhancing and under stricter guidelines.

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Managing rejection
Healthy lifestyle

Life After Transplant

More LIFE

Sarah Hyland

Tracy

Selena Gomez

Laurie Hernandez

Mandy Patinkin

George Lopez

Steve Jobs

Transplant is not a cure, for many it provide a new chance at life. Although there are still many obstacles and many things you have to do keep yourself healthy. There are many doctor visits and medication you have to take to maintain your health.

Transplant recipients always face the possibility of rejection. When an organ is transplanted, the recipient’s immune system sees this organ as ‘foreign’ and will begin to attack the new organ. To combat this problem, anti-rejection drugs have been developed. These suppress the recipient’s immune system so that it is less likely to attack the transplanted organ. Organ transplant recipients need to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives (most of the time).

Tissue transplants also face a possibility of rejection– though less common. Cornea recipients are prescribed eye drops that help the body accept the new graft, as well as other medications to help control infection, discomfort, and swelling. Most other tissues are processed in a way that removes extra cellular markers that could result in an immunologic reaction.

Despite this, most people believe this is a small price to pay for procedures that save lives, restore sight, restore function, and free people from daily hospital visits. For many, transplantation is the best treatment option.

Most people who receive transplants are able to go back to living a healthy, active life… like these people!

Celebrities:

Top Middle Left: Sarah Hyland – kidney recipient

Top Right: Selena Gomez– kidney recipient

Bottom Left: Laurie Hernandez – tissue recipient

Bottom Middle Left: Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride movie) – cornea recipient

Bottom Middle Right: George Lopez – kidney recipient

Bottom right: Steve Jobs – liver recipient

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The gift of more life is invaluable to those who receive a

donated organ or tissue, and donor families, like Hayden’s,

are also impacted by the gift their loved one has given to

others.

Donor Families

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What can you donate while living?

A kidney

A portion of your liver

Very small portion of lung called a lobe

Blood and bone marrow

You can donate a kidney to save the life of anyone who matches your blood and tissue type – recipients don’t have to be a blood relative!

Paired and chain donation
How safe is it for the donor?

In the US, you must be at least 18 to consider living kidney donation.

Living donation has nothing to do with registering as a deceased donor.

Please note that this Power Point is designed for a high school audience. The goal is simply to raise awareness of LKD, not promote it. Most high school students are too young to be considered a living donor.

If you’d like to learn more about living kidney donation, see the Recycle Yourself: A Guide to Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation curriculum.

In 2023, about 15% of the organs transplanted came from living donors.

Pictured top is Cam Dixon, a former Portland State University soccer player who donated a portion of her liver to her mom, Jamie Ellman, in 2023. Cam’s Op Ed in the NCAA News: https://www.ncaa.com/news/soccer-women/article/2023-12-15/op-ed-portland-states-cameron-dixon-sacrifices-senior-season-save-moms-life

Pictured below is Gloria Little, a kidney recipient, and living donor, Allison Wiley. While Gloria and Allison weren’t a compatible match for direct donation, through paired donation Allison was able to donate her kidney to someone in need. This in turn moved Gloria up on the waiting list. Gloria’s Story of Hope: https://www.donatelifenw.org/stories-of-hope/gloria-little

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Pop Quiz

How many people’s lives can be saved or enhanced by tissue and/or cornea donation?

Do you know if your family members are registered donors?

What is one new thing you �learned today?

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What Can You Do Today?

Eat right and exercise!

Especially if your background puts you at �high risk for Type II Diabetes or High Blood Pressure!

Register!

Online
Paper form
Say “YES” to donation at DMV
On iPhone Medical ID (at age 18)

Talk to your family!
Host a donor drive!

Start a SODA Chapter

Visit www.sodanational.org.

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Learn more and register…

www.DoneVidaNW.org �(en español)

www.DonateLifeNW.org

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