Date Published: 23 February 2009

Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week 2009

Western Australians are being urged to discuss their wishes about organ and tissue donation with their family and friends, to coincide with Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week.

The annual awareness week is being run nationally from February 21 to 28.

DonateWest Medical Director Dr Kevin Yuen said the event was the perfect opportunity for Western Australians to discuss organ and tissue donation with family and loved-ones and then sign on to the register if they believed in the benefits of donation.

“The way to ensure that your wishes are honoured is to sign on to the Australian Organ Donor Register and let your family know,” he said.

“There are already 670,000 Western Australians (41% of the population aged over 16 years) registered.

Although this result is good, we encourage more people to consider signing on and to make family and friends aware of their decision.”

In 2008, more than 95 people across Australia were granted another chance at life thanks to 28 Western Australians who generously donated their organs.

Organs that can be donated for transplantation are heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and pancreas and tissues include corneas, bones and heart valves.

Factors such as age, residence overseas or health conditions are not necessarily barriers to organ and tissue donation as each case is assessed individually

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