The “Donor Pause” is a beautiful act of kindness that was introduced to South African operating theatres a little over a year ago.
The “Donor Pause” is an act of acknowledging and respecting an Organ Donor for their kind gesture, which takes place in ICU or Theatre (or both), and often involves the donor’s family as well.
Love Life: Gift Life, an incredible South African Organ Donation organisation shared the post this week, a year after the concept was introduced to South African operating theatres.
“A moment of silence takes place to show respect to the donor, acknowledge the donor family and reflect on the fact that lives will be saved as a result of the procedure that is about to take place.
We love this gesture and are very proud of our procurement transplant coordinators who facilitate this.”
Love Life; Gift Life hopes to create a society where both medical practitioners and the public hold an informed and constructive attitude towards organ donation. A society, where commitment to organ donation becomes the norm, irrespective of cultural or religious backgrounds. The hope is that through education and a change in attitudes, there will be an increase in the number of referrals of potential organ donors to transplant procurement officers, as well as an increase in the number of families ultimately giving their consent for donation.
In South Africa, there are approximately 4 300 people waiting for a life-saving organ or cornea transplant, but only 0,2% of our population are registered organ donors (the last official statistics were published in 2008, but these numbers could actually be far worse).
Many South Africans lose loved ones each year due to violence, motor vehicle accidents and unnatural head injuries. An organ transplant could have saved many of these victims.
You can save a life after your death. Organ and tissue donation is a simple choice that will cost you nothing but a few minutes of your time to register.
**No photos have been taken of the “Donor Pause” in South Africa in the last year (since it’s inception). The photo used as the headline is from a global “Donor Pause” to showcase exactly what it would look like.
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In some countries they’ve changed the organ donation rule so that you have to opt out rather than in. Means they have so many more donors and a culture of donating. Would be something that would be great for SA to adopt. Love this initiative as a start!