Work to spread awareness of organ donation in East Yorkshire
Specialist nurses are working with Humberside Police on this.
A team of specialist nurses in Hull is working with Humberside Police to spread awareness about donation following deaths.
Helen Russell and Joanna Pancarowicz, Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation, are holding training sessions with police officers working in Hull and the East Riding to raise the issue of tissue and ocular donation with families of victims who have died from injuries, accidents or sudden deaths.
Helen said:
“No one likes to think of a loved one dying in violent or tragic circumstances but, unfortunately, these terrible crimes and accidents affect families every day.
“Donation can be a way of finding something positive out of something so negative and we hope these training sessions will help police raise the issue sensitively with families. It may be that the victim wanted to donate in the event of their death and this is a way of us finding out how to uphold those wishes.”
Sixteen families consented to organ donation between April last year and February this year after their relatives were declared brain dead or following death from cardiac arrest, known as a non-heartbeating donation.
Across Yorkshire, 373 patients received a life-saving or life-changing transplant in 2023/4.