TRIO E-News
September, 2021

In just the first half of 2021, 21,061 organ transplants have been performed in the U.S. according to data from United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which serves as the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network under federal contract.

Organ donation from deceased donors is up 15% over last year. There were 900 more deceased donors — people who provided one or more organs to save and enhance the lives of others — between January 1 and June 30 of 2021 than there were during the same period in 2020. The drop in donors caused by the pandemic beginning in the middle of March last year was offset enough by high numbers early in the year that there were still 242 more donors in the first half of 2020 than in the first half of 2019.

Organ transplants from deceased donors are also up — by 11%. A total of 17,821 deceased donor transplants were performed in the U.S. in the first half of 2021 compared to 15,933 in the first six months of last year. 2020 marked the 10th consecutive record breaking year for organ donation from deceased donors and the 8th in a row for deceased donor transplants.

To read the full story, click here.
Did you get your 3rd vaccine shot yet?

With the recent approval of a 3rd shot for anyone with a compromised immune system, transplant patients were among those eligible to get that 'booster 3rd shot. Register for this CareDx sponsored webinar above to hear the latest news. While it's live on September 1st, if you register you've receive a link to watch the recorded presentation later.

With the Delta variant continuing to surge, and the recent authorization from the FDA of COVID-19 booster shots for the immunocompromised, we know there is a lot of uncertainty in the transplant community. Join this event for an interactive webinar and get your questions answered live by a panel of experts.

Who should join: heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant recipients, care partners, anyone in the transplant community.

You can submit your question ahead of time using this link:
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
(813) 800-TRIO (8746)
Two women chatted in a bathroom. They soon realized they were each a match for the other’s husband, who needed a kidney.
Tia Wimbush and Susan Ellis have been co-workers for a decade, and while they didn’t know each other well, they learned two years ago that their spouses each needed a kidney transplant.
Then in August, something remarkable happened.
The women saw each other in a restroom at work and started chatting as they washed their hands. They had a lot in common, both working in information technology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and dealing with the same medical stress at home.
Neither was a match to be an organ donor for her own husband, and the transplant waiting lists are impossibly long.
OPTN Call for Public Comment
due by September 30th

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 
Update: ITNS Meeting converts to only virtual (canceling the in-person part due to
Portland COVID restrictions)

TRIO still to present unique thank you 'gift' to transplant nurses in the ITNS virtual Meeting
Come back here in October for a link to that PTC (Post-transplant Cancer) video presentation from the September virtual event..

Note: Many of those notes can still be read/seen on a special 'nurses thank you' page on the TRIO website - just click here
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.

The latest report, published yesterday, has information on:

  • the implementation of the UNOS continuous distribution system;
  • the latest information on COVID booster shots for immunosuppressed individuals;
  • the Part D Coalition and its efforts to keep immunosuppressive drugs covered;
  • Part D drug coverage as it relates to Social Security disability;
  • UNOS Regional Meetings and the September 22nd Kidney Community Advocacy Day.


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.