Have a Heart, Give a Part
Have A Heart, Give A Part is Rotary Club of Williamstown's Australia-wide project to combat the low rate of organ donation in Australia.
100 Australians die each year while awaiting organ transplants and at any time there are about 2000 people on Australian transplant waiting lists. So whilst Australia has one of the highest success rates in the world in transplant operation, it also has the lowest organ donation level in the developed world.
Have A Heart, Give A Part seeks to increase awareness of the need for healthy people to register as organ donors and:
- raise awareness of the current Australia shortage of organs
- increase the numbers on the organ donor registry
- fund research
Together with the Australia Rotary Health Research Fund, Rotary Club of Williamstown have provided a $54,000 research grant to the Alfred Hospital's Heart and Lung Transplant team to investigate the reality of using organs from non-heart beating donors i.e. a registered organ donor whose heart as well as brain has stopped functioning.
You can register online to donate organs at the Australian Organ Donor Register
or by telephone on 1800 777 203.
For more inofrmation contact Dr. Ronnie Goldberg (OAM) on 0419 206 399. Also see the Havaheart website.