TRIO E-News
August, 2021
TRIO's President, our own Jim Gleason, has been awarded the 2021 Chris Klug Foundation's "Bounce Back Give Back" Award for his more than 26 years working on behalf of the TRIO, UNOS, the Gift of Life Donor Program and his 500+ speaking engagements promoting organ donation with his 1994 heart transplant demonstrating the success of organ transplantation.

Each year, CKF’s Bounce Back Give Back Awards recognize two organ transplant recipients who have not only bounced back—by leading an active, healthy lifestyle post-transplant—but who are also giving back to the transplant community in exceptional ways.

The award will be presented in Aspen, Colorado in December during the CKF's annual Wine and Dinner event. Click here to learn more about the award process.

Jim has supported the work of TRIO in countless ways over his quarter-century tenure with the organization and we congratulate him on receiving this honor.
Gary Green, editor
Transplants During Pandemic Nearly Equal to Previous Year

A recent article notes the UNOS update that the number of transplants performed during the calendar year 2020 nearly equaled the number done during the previous year.

Although the number of living donor organs decreased, the number of deceased organ donations actually increased, making the pandemic's impact on transplantation less significant than originally feared.

“Our fear that the most acute patients — who can’t wait — were going to miss their opportunity for transplant did not materialize. The system was really able to scramble and pull itself together and meet the needs of those patients,” said Alexandra Glazier, president and CEO of New England Donor Services.
Note: Launch your own birthday, transplant anniversary, or other life event celebration event - or in memory of your donor or other loved one - with a Facebook funding campaign for TRIO using this link:
Sincerely,
Jim Gleason
TRIO President
(609) 877-4493

TRIO E-News editor:
Gary Green
garygreen@trioweb.org

A team of surgeons has recently completed the first human implantation in the United States of the ‘Aeson,’ an artificial heart device which the CARMAT French company developed.

Made from biocompatible materials that include bovine tissue, the artificial heart uses a combination of sensors and algorithms to keep its pace and keep blood circulating through the body.
OPTN Summer Call for Public Comment

Make your voice heard! 
Now open until September 30! The OPTN committees value your input and consider all comments when developing final proposals to submit to the OPTN Board of Directors. Add your comments and view the policy development process here 
TRIO to present unique thank you 'gifts' to transplant nurses at ITNS Annual Meeting
To offer a huge thanks on behalf of patients and donor families everywhere (especially from TRIO members), TRIO will be in Portland, Oregon in September at the 2021 ITNS Annual Meeting of transplant nurses from around the country and world. In St. Louis back in 2008, TRIO offered ITNS nurses individual thank you letters from patients and families who had submitted personal messages of gratitude, giving each of 500 attending nurses a unique thank you letter.

Note: Many of those notes can still be read/seen on a special 'nurses thank you' page on the TRIO website - just click here
Below, nurses at the 2008 St. Louis ITNS conference can be seen reading thank you letters that were hand-delivered by TRIO members to each nurse . . .
This year, along with those thank you letters, TRIO is offering the famous TRIO children's book, Mommy Can Play Again (<-- click to view), along with the 'gift' of our Post-transplant Cancer patient support website for use with their patients.
SEE FOR YOURSELF
That TRIO cancer project will be the subject of an in-person formal presentation during the 4-day meeting for both attendees and the virtual nursing audience for this unique hybrid event. A video ad promoting that presentation is running for 13 weeks in the weekly ITNS Newsletter can be viewed here by clicking on the graphic . . .
TRIO Public Policy and Advocacy Report

The TRIO Public Policy and Advocacy Committee monthly activity report has been updated and is always available on our website here.
If you have any questions or comments on the Committee's work or the issues they address, please contact TRIO by clicking here and your comments will be reviewed by the Committee at its next meeting.
This AlloCare phone app, available for iPhone users since last year, is now released by CareDx for the Android user This download app link is also available on our TRIO chapter websites.
CDC webinar: Latest on Effectiveness of Covid Vaccines and Organ Transplants with
Dr. Emily Blumberg
(click on title banner above to view this video)