Gift of Life

Hi friends! I am back with another incredible week!! With only two weeks left of my internship with Gift of Life, I am feeling endlessly grateful, excited, and nostalgic about everything I have learned and experienced. It seems like time has just been flying by. This week was our last week out with Transplant coordinators and I learned so much it was insane. Read below for details! :)  Monday (July 24): Today was pretty cool. I went to a hospital I had not yet been to before, and interestingly enough, it is a smaller-sister hospital that is part of a larger hospital that works with a medical school I will apply to. It was a relatively short day, however; it was very educational. The Transplant Coordinator I was with and I  spent the first part of the day huddling with the healthcare team before the family arrived.  When the family arrived and the healthcare team followed up with them on the grave prognosis of their loved one, the family decided they wanted to withdraw med...

 Hi Friends! I am back this week with some more incredible updates! I was able to go to the Eurofins serology testing lab, volunteer at Howie's House, become a Donation Chamption, and round some more at Temple University Hospital! See below for outlined details!  Monday (July 17): Today we spent time at the Eurofins serology testing lab where they test blood and tissue for infectious diseases prior to transplantation. Because tissue is regulated by the FDA, it is important to ensure that these donors are "clean". Meaning they are free from the general infectious diseases that would prevent you from giving blood (hep a-c, HIV, syphillis, zika, west nile, etc). For organ donation, you do not need to be "clean" given that these are life saving gifts, however, it is just as important for transplant surgeons to know what diseases the organs could be carrying so they might treat their recipient properly. We were able to see their most recent machine run. This machine...

Happy Sunday! This week was extremely educational, emotional, and overall an incredible experience. I did write this blog post already, however, the system glitched and erased my entire post so I will work my hardest to make sure I complete this as detailed as before it was all deleted. Most of the photos in this post are from Monday at the Donor Care Center in Philadelphia.  Monday (July 10):  Today, I was called at 6:15am by the Transplant Coordinator (TC) in charge of dispatching us to the different hospitals this week. I arrived at the Donor Care Center at  a little after 8am and introduced myself to the Transplant Coordinator following the case. As we were waiting for the OR, I was able to observe the Transplant coordinator while she searched for homes for the gifts this patient would give for transplant. This patient was brain-dead due to anoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain).  When we went to the OR around noon, there were two medical students I was working aro...

 Hi friends, I am back with another update on my incredible internship! This blog post will be much shorter than the previous one as it was a holiday week. Speaking of which, I hope you all had a happy Fourth of July! Below is the outline of my week!  Monday (July 3): Today I went into the office and worked on my project for a couple hours. I attained more data and expanded on my PowerPoint. I also read our packets on Essential Donor Testing and TC Family communication in preparation for our Didactic training with the Transplant coordinators this week. Next week I am going into the field with transplant coordinators to observe the entire process of obtaining authorization, collecting background information, and recovery of life-saving gifts! Tuesday (July 4): Happy Fourth of July! Today I spent the morning catching up with family via phone and updating them on my amazing experiences. I then followed those conversations by reading my packet on Brain Death, what it is, and how t...

 Hello friends! Im back with another exciting week! I went to a Corn-hole for Corneas event and toured the ICUs of Temple University Hospital! Read below for more!  Monday (June 26): Today Francesca and I embarked on our journey to Temple University Hospital. Amidst parking confusion, crosswalks, and business clothes we finally found our location. We met up with Joe Paparo, Temple University's Hospital Services coordinator, and shadowed him for the first half of the day. We began in a conference room where he sent out his weekly email to the team updating and editing current cases that the Transplant Coordinators and himself are tracking. Then, we visited the Neuro ICU which was in a separate building adjacent to the main hospital. We just made a circle and said hi to some of the nurses. Part of the reason it is important for these Hospital Services coordinators to make their presence known serves as a reminder for nurses and physicians to refer any patients they may not have...

 Hi Everyone! I am here with another update on my incredible internship with the Gift of Life Donor Program! This week was another eventful week with a field trip to MTF Biologics in Jessup, PA! Below is an outline of my week!  Monday (June 19): Today, we arrived to work early in order to complete some reading on donation and brain death before our meetings. We met with Gweneth O'Shaughnessy, the vice president of Hospital Development. We received an overview of the hospital development model and methodology. We learned about their standard processes and the importance of following the process in order to serve as a dual advocate for the donor family and transplant recipient, as well as improve the rates of donation and transplantation. We also took part in a didactic overview of the DATA department and an overview of the program used to manage all donors and recipients. This meeting helped familiarize us interns, with a data system that will help in our research project we ar...

 Hi all! Rachael here with a new exciting update on everything I have learned and experienced this week! Last weekend I spent some time in Ocean City, New Jersey with one of my friends participating in an internship there. I had never been to New Jersey and I had heard that I couldn't pump my own gas, but it was interesting to actually experience it! I was introduced to the boardwalk and was able to spend some time in the Atlantic Ocean. 10/10 weekend experience! This week I spent some more time rotating through tissue services and the Transplant Information Call center (TIC), received a didactic overview of the transplant pregnancy registry (TPRI), and an overview of family services. In addition, Francesca and I volunteered at a Juneteenth health fair where we educated black and brown communities on organ/tissue donation and encouraged individuals to register as an organ donors and to educate their friends and families on the beauty of organ and tissue donation. Below, is a detail...