As a teacher, whether teaching in person, online or a combination, we know that it is important to you to provide valuable content and real examples to your students.

At DonorConnect we hope we can meet your needs by providing valuable resources that help students understand the basic concepts of organ and tissue donation. We would love to present to your students in a live classroom setting whenever that is possible. When in-person presentations are not possible or practical, we are also available to give presentations virtually and we have provided these online materials that we hope you will find beneficial.

Recorded Presentations

If you have questions or would like additional resources, please contact Dixie Madsen at dixie.madsen@donorconnect.life.

Diane Peck covers the basics of donation and shows a few videos featuring donors and recipients in this 30 minute video.

Karen Hyde covers the basics of organ, eye, and tissue donation in this 25 minute video.

Videos

This video from the Health Resources and Services Administration gives an easy to understand overview of how organ donation and transplantation works.

We have several videos on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/yesidaho.org

Some videos I would suggest include:

From Tragedy to Hope. This is an introduction to donation with stories from recipients and donors.

Chet – This is the story about a young man who had a heart transplant 19 years ago at the age of 11.

Megan – A young woman tells about the pain of losing her brother to liver failure and what she has done to educate others about donation.

Shauna – A 16 year old Idaho woman becomes an organ donor after a tragic accident.

Rick – This story aired on KTVB a few years ago. They just aired the story again with an update of how Rick is doing in light of COVID-19.

There are many other great videos on our channel. Feel free to contact me, Dixie Madsen, at dixie.madsen@donorconnect.life for more suggestions.

Research Assignment

Jeopardy Game

Who doesn’t like a game of Jeopardy? Your students can download this game and test their knowledge about organ, eye and tissue donation. Do they know more than their siblings? More than their parents?

What Can Be Donated

Transplantation Timeline

How long have we been transplanting organs, tissue and corneas? Can you believe the first cornea transplant was in 1905? Medical professionals and scientists have been working ever since to learn how to successfully do transplants to save and heal lives. See the timeline below to get some of the highlights over the years.

The website The Gift of a Lifetime provides some valuable information about donation. I would recommend Tissue Donation – Restoring the Quality of Life for classes who have been talking about the musculoskeletal system. Understanding Death Before Donation discusses brain death and how the medical team is able to confirm the absence of brain activity. It explains the difference between brain death and a coma. There are several other links on this page with valuable information that may add to the materials you have already prepared for your students.