Become a hero and register as an organ donor
Crisis Medical have challenged the community as well as other ambulance services to register as organ donors.
IN recent years the importance of organ donation has been highlighted by events such as the World Transplant Games.
Now it is receiving further emphasis through the #HERO777 Campaign, initiated by Crisis Medical, Gateway Hospital and Hillcrest teen, Matthew Legemaate, who is in desperate need of a heart and lung transplant.
The campaign urges people to register as organ donors and to tell seven people about their donor wishes. The hope is then that those seven individuals will also sign up and tell an additional seven people of their wishes. After registering, people can also upload a selfie with the #HERO777 hashtag to spread the word.
The number seven was chosen as a symbol for the campaign as one donor can potentially save seven lives by donating their heart, two lungs, kidneys, liver and pancreas.
“The campaign was inspired by Matthew, who started a Facebook page – Matthew’s Journey – Come Along for the Drive – to raise awareness about organ donation. This young man loves cars and often posts photos of himself test-driving various fast and luxurious cars, so we decided to take him on a drive in the ambulance.
“One thing led to another and we decided to start the campaign together,” explained Kyle van Reenen of Crisis Medical.
A number of staff from the ambulance service have registered as organ donors, and they challenge other emergency services to follow suit.
“As paramedics we often treat patients who either need or could donate organs. We understand how difficult is is to find ‘donate-able’ organs and how important donors are,” he said.
