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Learn about UNOS, a non-profit organization that facilitates organ distribution and transplantation, establishes equitable policies, and maintains a national transplant waiting list. Discover how they promote organ availability and save lives.
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A man in Seattle needs a new heart to go on living . . .
A Chicago woman’s liver is failing . . .
A boy in Boston waits for a kidney to release him from daily dialysis . . .
And a family in Denver decides to donate the organs of a family member who has died . . .
UNOS Organization • Non-profit and charitable • Membership organization • Government contractor
National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA) • Prohibited buying/selling organs • Created Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) • Established Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients
What OPTN/UNOS Does • Facilitates organ distribution, transplantation • Establishes equitable policies • Maintains national transplant waiting list • Monitors members for policy compliance • Collects/validates/reports transplant data • Promotes organ availability
Who Are Our Members?As of May 2012 Transplant Centers 242 Organ Procurement Orgs. 58 Histocompatibility Labs 156 Public Orgs. 6 Medical/Scientific Orgs. 16 Individual Members 7
Organ Matching Donor organ National computer matching system Potential recipient list Transplant Patients waiting
Organ Matching Criteria • Medical urgency • Tissue match • Blood type • Waiting time • Organ size • Immune status • Geographic distance
Policy Development • Process is flexible • May take as little as 3 months or as long as several years • Could involve thousands of individuals Transplant Community Input Committee(s) Issue Public Comment Process Board of Directors Policy
Organ Specific Thoracic Liver/Intestine Kidney Pancreas OPO Organ Availability Finance Transplant Administrators Policy Oversight International Relations Disease Transmission Advisory Membership & Professional Standards Ethics Histocompatibility Patient Affairs Minority Affairs Pediatrics Living Donor Transplant Coordinators Operations OPTN/UNOS Committees
Our ChallengeThe U. S. Organ Shortage 120,000 90,000 60,000 30,000 2001 2003 2005 2009 2011 Donors Transplants Patients Waiting
Promoting Organ Availability • Public awareness through Donate Life America and local affiliates • Identifying and sharing best practices • Education/Collaboration involving transplant and other health professionals
TransplantsSave Lives