• Home Page
• Photo Gallery
• Donor Information
• Wolff(Wolfe)- Parkinson-White Syndrome
• Surfrider Foundation
• Guest Book
• Contact Us

In 2003, more than 6,000 transplant candidates - one person every 90 minutes - died while awaiting transplantation. Right now, 17 people die every day waiting for a transplant. Many of these patients may have lived if the families of every medically suitable potential donor had said "yes" to donation. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), across the country there are currently more than 86,000 individuals waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. As of October 2004, the list included 2,308 children younger than 18 years of age. The need for kidneys tops the list, followed by liver and heart. Transplant hospitals place individuals on the national waiting list after they are given careful medical evaluations. Each month, approximately 500 people in the United States are added to the national waiting list.

Each year in the United States, approximately 15,000 people die under conditions that make them medically suitable potential organ donors. However, only 6,457 - approximately one-third - of those who died in 2003 became organ donors.

An estimated 20,000 Americans (about 55 each day) receive organ transplants each year. In 2003, 18,653 people received transplants from a deceased donor.

The California Transplant Donor Network concentrates on the recovery of vital organs such as lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, heart-lung and pancreas from donors and placement of these organs with the more than 80,000 people who are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in our country. The Transplant Network refers potential cornea and tissue donors to eye and tissue banks within its region. The Transplant Network also offers on-going support and resources for donor families.  The Transplant Network provides services to hospitals; transplant centers and the public in Northern/Central California as well as Northern Nevada.
 
In1984, Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) authored by then Congressman Al Gore of Tennessee. This piece of legislation addressed the critical shortage of deceased donor organs in the United States as well as the need for improvements in the recovery and placement of these organs. The act called for the establishment of a national organ matching system as well as the establishment of a network of private, non-profit organizations under federal contract who would be in charge of regional recovery and placement of donor organs.

In 1987, an executive committee of high-level hospital administrators of the 4 major transplant centers in Northern California came together to develop an independent Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) in response to NOTA. The resulting structure became known as the California Transplant Donor Network. In the first few years, the Transplant Network focused much of its energy on educating donor hospital staff regarding the process of organ donation. After this donor referral process became routine, the Transplant Network extended its efforts towards public education and family services in a continuing effort to increase consent rates.

When a potential donor is identified in the Transplant Network's service area, a transplant coordinator is sent to the hospital to evaluate medical suitability and to work with the hospital staff to provide appropriate care for the donor and support for the family. If the deceased individual has authorized donation (donor card or donor registry) or the family consents to donation, the transplant coordinator performs various evaluations to provide an overall picture of the condition of the organs.

This information is then passed along to placement coordinators who enter these details into a national database of information to match the donated organs with transplant candidates. The allocation of these organs is based on organ sharing policies established by the national Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN). Generally, organs are allocated first to candidates waiting at the local transplant centers with consideration given to the severity of illness and time waiting.