Nursing honor society hopes to educate with April event

By Kathleen Quilligan

HAMMOND | Joan Dorman can list one story after another of how organ and tissue donation has touched people she knows, and she knows shes not alone.

That's why Dorman, president of the Mu Omega chapter of Sigma Theta Tau nursing honor society at Purdue University Calumet, and the rest of the honor society are planning an April event during National Donate Life month.

"We're hoping to raise awareness on the part of the public and dispel some myths," said Dorman, a clinical associate professor

At 6 p.m. April 6 at Alumni Hall on campus, the honor society will host a panel discussion followed by small group breakout sessions with each panelist, Dorman said. The panelists will come from a variety of areas relating to organ donation, including Michael Henderson, the hospital development coordinator of the Indiana Lions Eye and Tissue Bank; David Brady, administrative director of Transplant Services at Loyola University Medical Center; and Alice Jenkins, with the organ and tissue donation network Gift of Hope. The panel will also include organ and tissue donation recipients.

"(Organ and tissue donation) has a tremendous impact," Dorman said. "Everybody knows somebody. I have a good friend who donated a kidney to her stepson. It's been 15 years now ... he has a whole new lease on life."

Dorman said she was unsure if event attendees would be able to sign up at the event to become donors, but said there will at least be information about how to sign up.

This is the first event the honor society has hosted that is both to educate its members and the public, Dorman said.