COOPERSTOWN — BY MICHELLE MILLER
Staff at Bassett Medical Center decided to try something a little different this year to promote organ and tissue donation. They teamed up with the Fenimore Art Museum to present a free movie night with discussion and stories about becominga donor.
According to hospital spokeswoman Karen Huxtable, awareness has centered on efforts within the hospital with patients, visitors and staff. However, Connie Jastremski, chief nursing officer at Bassett Health Network said, at a national conference about a year ago, spokespeoplechallenged those in attendance to go back to their communities and do something to raise awareness about organ donation.
“The first thing I thought of was, let’s do a movie night because everyone misses the friendly theater,” she said.
Jastremski said after nine months, it “finally was happening.” The movie “Return to Me” was shown at the Fenimore Art Museum on Friday night, followed by a story given byLisa Hamilton, a registered nurse in the Emergency Department at Bassett Medical Center.
“The message here tonight is that people need us,” Jastremski said. “They don’t need us right this minute, but the need us.”
Before showing the movie, Jastremski told a story about a man who was married to a hiker. Accoriding to Jastremski, the man’s wife, who was 39 at the time, was hiking and her harness broke resulting in a bad head injury.Jastremski said it became clear she would not make it and organ donation was discussed.
According to Jastremski, theman went into panic mode, not knowing what she would want. However, she said he knew what he wanted and thought he knew her long enough to be able to say yes.
The message is people can make this type of decision before something tragic happens to them, Jastremskisaid. It is a very hard decision for most family members to make,and people can be sure their wishes are met by becoming a registered donor or having discussions about it. According to Heather Hickland, hospital and community servicespecialist for the Center for Donation and Transplant, there are more than 100,000 patients waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in the United States. She said hundreds of thousands of people will need a tissue transplant this year.
Hickland said organ donor registries allow people to document their decision to donate organs and or tissues. New Yorkers can document their decision by enrolling in the New York State Donate Life Registry at donatelifecdt.com.
“Return to Me” is a romantic comedy about a man who falls in love with the woman who receives his wife’s heart after her death.
Anytime someone dies it is a sad situation, said Jastremsk, but at least in the movie someone was able to be saved.
“We saw the circle of life,” Jastremski said after the movie.
“Someone died, but someone was able to live because someone gave an organ. Not all stories have a happy ending.”
Jastremski told another story from the national conference she attended. She said a mother of three children needed a new set of lungs and was on the transplant list for almost one year.
The woman never received the lungs and died, Jastremski said.
“There are just not enough donors,” she added. Tears were shed in the Fenimore auditorium and then Hamilton stepped up to the podium to tell the story about her sister in-law, Lori Holdridge, who gave the gift of life to six individuals following her death two years ago.
According to Hamilton, her sister in-law lost her life unexpectedly to a stroke at the young age of 45. “She went to go to work one morning and collapsed,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she believes everything happens for a reason. She said her brother typically worked nights, but happened to be home the night before Lori collapsed early in the morning.
According to Hamilton, Lori was flown to Albany Medical Center where she was pronounced brain dead at about 2 p.m. Lori died the day after.
“There had been many, many times where I was the one making the phone call as a nurse to the center (for donation) or giving the bad news to families, so it was very different for me to be on the other end of things,” Hamilton said. Hamilton said she has been a nurse for about 28 years and has worked in the emergency room for about 25 years. She said donation was never anything anyone had discussed before, but the family automatically decided it was the right thing to do.
“It’s going on the third year, and I don’t think that my family has ever regretted their decision,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the decision was validated when she was driving to her brother’s house and it suddenly started to rain and a rainbow appeared in back of the house.
“Lori loved, loved, loved rainbows. It was a validation for us. We know we did the right thing. Everything happens for a reason and that rainbow was our gift back,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said her brother has letters sent by recipients and posts them on his Facebook page. She said Lori was able to donate her heart, both lungs, both kidneys and her liver, and five out of the six organs went to people in New York state.
Hickland said she loves what she does because of the inspirational stories and outcomes.
“It is so amazing someone can become a hero at the end of their life,” she said.
According to hospital spokeswoman Karen Huxtable, awareness has centered on efforts within the hospital with patients, visitors and staff. However, Connie Jastremski, chief nursing officer at Bassett Health Network said, at a national conference about a year ago, spokespeoplechallenged those in attendance to go back to their communities and do something to raise awareness about organ donation.
“The first thing I thought of was, let’s do a movie night because everyone misses the friendly theater,” she said.
Jastremski said after nine months, it “finally was happening.” The movie “Return to Me” was shown at the Fenimore Art Museum on Friday night, followed by a story given byLisa Hamilton, a registered nurse in the Emergency Department at Bassett Medical Center.
“The message here tonight is that people need us,” Jastremski said. “They don’t need us right this minute, but the need us.”
Before showing the movie, Jastremski told a story about a man who was married to a hiker. Accoriding to Jastremski, the man’s wife, who was 39 at the time, was hiking and her harness broke resulting in a bad head injury.Jastremski said it became clear she would not make it and organ donation was discussed.
According to Jastremski, theman went into panic mode, not knowing what she would want. However, she said he knew what he wanted and thought he knew her long enough to be able to say yes.
The message is people can make this type of decision before something tragic happens to them, Jastremskisaid. It is a very hard decision for most family members to make,and people can be sure their wishes are met by becoming a registered donor or having discussions about it. According to Heather Hickland, hospital and community servicespecialist for the Center for Donation and Transplant, there are more than 100,000 patients waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in the United States. She said hundreds of thousands of people will need a tissue transplant this year.
Hickland said organ donor registries allow people to document their decision to donate organs and or tissues. New Yorkers can document their decision by enrolling in the New York State Donate Life Registry at donatelifecdt.com.
“Return to Me” is a romantic comedy about a man who falls in love with the woman who receives his wife’s heart after her death.
Anytime someone dies it is a sad situation, said Jastremsk, but at least in the movie someone was able to be saved.
“We saw the circle of life,” Jastremski said after the movie.
“Someone died, but someone was able to live because someone gave an organ. Not all stories have a happy ending.”
Jastremski told another story from the national conference she attended. She said a mother of three children needed a new set of lungs and was on the transplant list for almost one year.
The woman never received the lungs and died, Jastremski said.
“There are just not enough donors,” she added. Tears were shed in the Fenimore auditorium and then Hamilton stepped up to the podium to tell the story about her sister in-law, Lori Holdridge, who gave the gift of life to six individuals following her death two years ago.
According to Hamilton, her sister in-law lost her life unexpectedly to a stroke at the young age of 45. “She went to go to work one morning and collapsed,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she believes everything happens for a reason. She said her brother typically worked nights, but happened to be home the night before Lori collapsed early in the morning.
According to Hamilton, Lori was flown to Albany Medical Center where she was pronounced brain dead at about 2 p.m. Lori died the day after.
“There had been many, many times where I was the one making the phone call as a nurse to the center (for donation) or giving the bad news to families, so it was very different for me to be on the other end of things,” Hamilton said. Hamilton said she has been a nurse for about 28 years and has worked in the emergency room for about 25 years. She said donation was never anything anyone had discussed before, but the family automatically decided it was the right thing to do.
“It’s going on the third year, and I don’t think that my family has ever regretted their decision,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the decision was validated when she was driving to her brother’s house and it suddenly started to rain and a rainbow appeared in back of the house.
“Lori loved, loved, loved rainbows. It was a validation for us. We know we did the right thing. Everything happens for a reason and that rainbow was our gift back,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said her brother has letters sent by recipients and posts them on his Facebook page. She said Lori was able to donate her heart, both lungs, both kidneys and her liver, and five out of the six organs went to people in New York state.
Hickland said she loves what she does because of the inspirational stories and outcomes.
“It is so amazing someone can become a hero at the end of their life,” she said.
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