Covid-19 Webinar Series
In regard to the ongoing global situation around the COVID-19 virus, we have created a series of webinars under the title of: Organ donation and transplantation in the current Covid-19 situation. These seminars are addressing important topics such as donor detection, donation, multi-organ transplantation, patient monitoring, tissue donation, and more during the COVID-19 circumstances at this moment. For the commodity and availability of viewers from other regions of the world, the webinars are scheduled at European noon time.
The introductory Series I chapter happened this April 15th, with the main topics revolving around recommendations of the COVID-19 situation and the current Italian situation with transplant coordination experience. It had the participation of Dr. Marian Irazabal - MD, Intensive Care Medicine in Hospital General de Catalunya and Hospital Parc Taulí, Transplant Coordinator & DTI collaborator, Dr. Marco Sacchi - MD, Neurological Intensive Care Medicine in Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milano & Transplant Coordinator and the i-DTI Presentation tool for real time knowledge exchange between health care professionals related to organ and tissues donation and transplantation .
The next series of webinars will continue to have experts - from Spain, Italy, China, USA, Iran, Brazil and other countries - sharing their experiences, new tools to improve practices, conditions to accept donors or to perform transplants during this time, and how they have been affected by the virus. The Covid-19 webinar series is now available on DTI Community’s Academic Library section and on the COVID-19 section on the main menu as well; all registered members can access it. Stay tuned to receive more updates and news about the upcoming Series II webinar in organ donation.
The Great Charity Concert moves to 2021
Due to the pandemic situation DTI Foundation and Nen Déu Fundació have rescheduled their charity concert for the next year. It will be held on June 28th at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.
This event will give you the opportunity to enjoy live music and collaborate with two important causes: social inclusion of disabled people and social awareness in organ donation for transplantation. Culture and solidarity together in one event.
The brilliance of the Escolania de Montserrat and the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès will be accompanied by Álvaro Carnicero on the organ, and by the Capella de Música de Montserrat, with Xavier Puig as the orchestra conductor. Together, they will perform the Great Concert of 2021, with pieces by Georg F. Händel, Joseph Haydn and Anselm Viola.
If you already booked your tickets for 2020 please keep them, they will be valid for 2021. People who have bought tickets and wish to get a refund should contact the box office by email at taquilles@palaumusica.cat
Should you like to join us you can purchase the tickets here: www.palaudelamusica.cat
In case you are unable to attend the concert and you still want to collaborate with these causes, you can "buy" a Charity Front Row ticket here: http://bit.ly/Fila0Palau
DTI contact details: infodti@dtifoundation.com / +34-934020897
Kunming international meetings in December
Two international meetings have taken place in Kunming, China, from 4 to 8 December 2019, with the common theme of organ donation. Jointly organized by the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation (COTDF) and DTI Foundation - Donation & Transplantation Institute, were hosted by the First People's Hospital of Kunming and the Affiliated Ganmei Hospital of Kunming Medical College.
The 1st International Workshop on Leadership, Management, Quality & Innovation in Organ Procurement was held from December 4 to 6. The Workshop's was organized through a dynamic and innovative training methodology and it was attended by 86 participants from 36 countries. As a result of this international meeting, a set of agreed recommendations were reached to strengthen organ donation in the countries of the One Belt & One Road Initiative, with the intention of being published in a next future.
Moreover, the next two days, December 7 and 8, the 4th China International Organ Donation Conference (CIODC) & the One Belt & One Road Symposium on Organ Donation Development and International Cooperation, brought together 1,200 international representatives who jointly discussed the latest trends and challenges that the Belt & Road region countries face in organ and tissue donation programs.
Our gratitude goes to all those involved in this great project and their commitment with the best practices of organ donation around the world!
DTI Community charitable events in 2019
Thanks to the charitable events organized bt DTI Community this autumn, the social department of DTI Foundation got several donations from friends, colleagues and all those who were interested in its scholarship program. The goal of these events was to promote education and training in organ donation and transplantation among healthcare professionals that live in under-resourced countries. All these donations will be entirely destined for these scholarships.
On October 19th and 20th, the theatre company “Helena Teatre”, an amateur company based in Gràcia district, in Barcelona, performed the play “Bola de neu” and on November 20th, more than 100 music lovers enjoyed four acts of classical music at el Petit Palau, the litle auditorium of Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.
The concert began with a group of a violin, a cello and a piano, playing two original pieces from Frank Bridge’s “Miniatures for Piano Trio”. Right after, a pianist, two violinists, one violist and a cellist played Antonín Dvořák. A piano duo continued the concert, with two young students playing without a partiture pieces of Chaminade and Schostakovich. Finally, three teachers from the Music Conservatory of Barcelona ended the act performing Felix Mendelssohn.
DTI Community thanks everybody who gave support to these events and all of those who donated to the cause even though they could not attend.
We hope to do it all again very soon!
DTI Community’s charitable events to fund new scholarships
DTI Community is blending with culture and music once more. For the upcoming academic year, we have organized two charitable events in order to raise funds for our project Save 1 million lives , which goal is to grant scholarships to train and teach about organ donation and transplantation to doctors and healthcare professionals living in under-resourced countries.
The first event is going to be a theatre play from the Catalan author and journalist Carles Soldevila. Bola de neu, from 1927, tells the story of Emili Ginebreda, a well-off bourgeois, with grey personality and no apparent talent. One day, he achieves his childhood dream: becoming a painter. His friends, with different interests each, will help him become the artist that he always wanted to be. However, in the process, a love triangle occurs between Emili, his wife, and an art critic. The play will take place on October 18th at 20:30h in Helena Teatre (Montseny Street 31, Barcelona). As it is happening in Barcelona, the play will be developed in Catalan.
The second fundraising event will take place in the emblematic Palau de la Música in Barcelona. A concert consisting of two pianists, three musicians playing Brahms and, lastly, a quintet made of five musicians will be hosted in Petit Palau, a smaller auditorium inside Palau de la Música. The event, on the 20th of November, will open its doors at 8 p.m., so DTI Community can hand out honorary plaques to its most loyal collaborators at 8:30 p.m.
One ticket includes the entrance to both events, and the donation is 30€. As mentioned, everything that is raised will be destined to finance scholarships for TPM courses in Barcelona for healthcare professionals in under-resourced countries. You can check our campaign Save 1 million lives in Global Giving.
We welcome everybody who lives near to enjoy a comedy on stage and help save lives at the same time!
Take a look at the website bit.ly/dtiEVENTS and contact us at info@dticommunity.org or call (+34) 934020897.
DTI Community forms an alliance with two transplant patient associations
The patient associations AETHA (Association of Patients and Liver Transplant of Aragon) and ADER (Kidney Patients Association) have united with DTI Community to join strengths and make the message about the importance of organ donation and transplantation louder.
The alliance is a result of the shared goal to improve the patients’ quality of life, including the ones that have been transplanted and the ones that are still waiting for one.
From now on, DTI Community will work with ADER and AETHA to spread the services and the events of all the parts through their websites and social media; they will create projects of divulgation and promotion for organ donation and transplant, such as the talks in which the patients will be the speakers; and plan events together.
Starting in September, associates of ADER and AETHA will have access to DTI Community’s website, and vice versa. Also, September is the month chosen to hold the first-ever talk with a patient as a speaker in this platform. It will take place on the 19th of September at 4 p.m. (Spanish time).
ADER http://www.aderrenal.org/?lang=ca is a private entity, philanthropic and of social initiative, from Catalunya. Founded in 1976, the institution has fought to reclaim improvement in the substitutive therapies of renal insufficiency, such as haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplant.
AETHA: https://aetha.org/aetha/ is a non-profit entity from Aragón, Spain, founded in 1999. Their actions include talks to raise awareness about organ donation and transplant in educational centres, and providing help and information to patients and their families, such as offering welfare flats to people who are going through a transplant.
Saving lives over the last 10 years in Trinidad & Tobago
The SEUSA program, supported by Fundación Repsol and coordinated by DTI Foundation, has led the actions to strengthening the organ donation and transplant system in the island. From June 19th to 21st, a team of DTI experts has visited the country to continue the establishment of the program.
The donation and transplantation program in Trinidad & Tobago started in 2006 under the umbrella of the National Organ Donor Program, competence of the Trinidadian Ministry of Health implemented by the National Transplant Unit (NOTU). But was only in 2010 thanks to the help of WHO and the Donation and Transplantation institute (DTI), that the Donation and Transplantation activity reached its best results. A total of 122 patients have received a renal transplant since 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago.
These achievements were made possible also thanks to the collaboration of Fundación Repsol; a Spanish foundation that promotes entrepreneurship, supports and collaborates with social, educational, and cultural organisations in the development of their projects.
The project designed and implemented by DTI Foundation was based in the best organ donation practices from Spain, Europe and the United States; called SEUSA methodology.
Most of the SEUSA Trinidad and Tobago activities have been focussed on the:
- Design the structure and strengthening of the deceased donation program
As results, 238 potential donors have been detected. From these, 23 have become real donors. Out of 122 kidneys transplanted, 39 kidneys were from deceased donors.
- Education and Training: a total of 261 healthcare professionals have been trained in organ donation and transplantation as part of the project. Also, in 2017, an intensive care doctor graduated from the official Master in Donation and Transplantation of Organs, Cells, and Tissues, from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
SEUSA program
Thanks to the implementation of the SEUSA program, the engagement of the health professionals and the involvement of the health authorities the organ donation commitment in the country has increased significantly resulting in a rising donation rate.
The program was implemented in several phases. The initial step is a diagnosis study, aiming on identifying the organizational, structural and educational needs. After analysing the results and once identified, an action plan is formulated in order to foreseeing solutions. The next step is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the system by focusing on professionals’ involvement and management aspects. The third step is maximization of donor detection, by implementing the Deceased Alert System (DAS), an IT system that allows reporting potential brain-dead donors. All these actions need to be involved in a key cultural change within the healthcare professionals to nurture a positive attitude towards organ donation. The following step is auditing the hospitals to assure the accuracy and efficiency of the program’s implementation and its actions. The final step is analysing the program development to provide recommendations for improvement and professional training according to the local educational needs.
Despite the improvements and the progress that has been made, there are still some challenges left to overcome. The lack of a tissue donation program, the lack of physician’s engagement, the shortage of trained professional and a high family refusal rate are possibly the main ones.
June 2019 DTI expert visit
From June 19th to 21st, a team of DTI experts has visited Trinidad and Tobago to ensure the establishment of the program and to verify the progress made. Additionally, other CARICOM countries have been the focus of the DTI experts visit, extending the visit till June 26th. Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica hosted the team facilitating influential meetings with the key health care professionals and relevant authorities. The aim was to evaluate the possibility of regional involvement and as well as creating synergies for better practices in managing the end stage kidney disease.
During the two-day visit to Trinidad and Tobago the DTI team had the opportunity to meet the Minister of Health Mr. Terrence Deyalsingh to discuss the new action plan for the deceased organ donation program. A visit to the NOTU and the Repsol Foundation office was also facilitated.
In Guyana a meeting with surgeons attending the 17th Annual Caribbean College of Surgeons Scientific Conference was facilitated. This was an excellent opportunity to establish synergies of cooperation in Donation and Transplantation field within CARICOM regions. The DTI team also met Mr Slater, CARICOM assistant secretary general to establish better communication pathways with the Caribbean region.
During the visit to Barbados, the team visited the Queen Elisabeth Hospital. The visit included a very dynamic meeting with the Hospital CMO, Dr Anthony Harris and the nephrology and surgical team where they all had the chance to define the challenges for the implementation of the deceased donation program.
During the Jamaica stay the team visited the West Indies University Hospital where they had the opportunity to attend a meeting organized by Dr Carl Bruce, CMO. The meeting was joined by many key stakeholders of the deceased donor program, representatives of the Minister of Health, the Hospital legal department, nursing department, surgery department and professors from the West Indies University. The Ambassador of Spain, His Excellency Mr Josep Maria Bosch Messa offered his support attending the meeting.
Overall the visit has made possible a more detailed assessment of the current situation in the CARICOM and also has facilitated the establishment of working networks and synergies among CARICOM region.
It is now clear that there are many challenges ahead, but the right action plans are in place to made deceased organ donation possible in a near future in the Caribbean region.
Annual Report 2018 DTI Foundation
We are glad to present you the Annual Report of DTI Foundation for 2018.
To know more about our activity (Educational programs; Congresses attendance; European and other International Projects) you can take a look here!
https://issuu.com/dtifoundation/docs/dti_2021_eng_issuu
6th Advanced Course in Transplant Procurement Management -TPM in Vimeiro, Portugal
The city of Vimeiro held, once again and for the sixth time in Portugal, the Advanced Course in Transplant Procurement Management (TPM). The event was organized by the Insituto Português do Sangue e da Transplantação IPST (Ministério da Saúde) together with DTI Foundation. From the 26th to the 29th of March, a total of 50 healthcare professionals attended the course as students to learn the best practices in Organ Donation and Transplantation.
During these four days, Portuguese and Spanish experts taught the main aspects and skills of Organ Donation.
The course included workshops in detection and identification of the donor, management of the donor after brain death and after circulatory death –one of the biggest challenges in the Transplant community–, communication with the potential donor’s family and viability of organs and clinic cases.
Portugal’s organ donation rate is currently one of the highest in the world. In 2018, according to IRODaT, there were 33,63 donors per million of population, a number that has been increasing since 2014 – except for a slight reduction from 2017 to 2018.
Last year, a total of 837 organ transplants were performed in Portugal: 529 kidney operations, 201 liver operations, 27 pancreas operations, 46 heart transplants and 34 lung operations.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT OPEN ITS DOORS TO EUDONORGAN AWARENESS EVENT
"Why Organ Donation Matters to Us All"
The third social awareness event organized within the Eudonorgan project was officially opened at European Parliament on February 18th. The event was attended by 120 healthcare professionals and other relevant stakeholders coming from 33 countries.
Dr. Martí Manyalich (Eudonorgan Project Director, President of DTI) announced that «the project has trained and reached through social awareness actions 400-500 participants all over Europe». Also, Efstratios Chatzixiros, on behalf of Jose R. Nuñez (Adviser on Medical Products of Human Origin Service Delivery and Safety of the WHO), encouraged Eudonorgan project since it should be a common responsibility for all stakeholders, the health authorities, professionals, patient associations, media, etc. to join forces» for organ donation promotion.
Furthermore, Stefaan Van Der Spiegel (Head of Sector, Substances of Human Origin, Unit B4, DG SANTE, European Commission) reminded that « The Commission has learned through the Action Plan the importance of a bottom-up approach to set the agenda by engaging professionals, administrations, politicians and the public opinion».
Luc Colenbie (Expert DG Health Care, Organs, Embryo’s and Bio-Ethics, the Ministry of Health, Belgium), co-promoter of this event, stated that «due to the efforts of the Federal Government and the support of the legislation brought into force in 1986, Belgium is at the European summit on organ donation and transplantation. The government's objectives are to increase the donor potential, to ensure the quality and safety of recovered organs and to provide an optimal allocation of all available organs».
Pisana Ferrari (lung recipient and strong supporter of organ donation, Member of the Board of the Italian Pulmonary Hypertension Association) endorsed Eudonorgan activity and expressed her «pleasure to be able to offer our support in identifying patients to take part in it. We saw this as a unique opportunity for some of our pulmonary hypertension patients to learn specialized skills that they could take back to their countries to improve the situation there».
At the end of the event, all participants joined the esplanade of the European Parliament for a commemorative act consisting in a launch of biodegradable balloons dedicated to organ donors and the visit to the BELDONOR truck. See the video here!!
Eudonorgan is a service contract awarded by the European Commission on the initiative of the European Parliament. It is implanted by an international consortium, including University of Barcelona (Spain) as project leader, DTI Foundation - Donation and Transplantation Institute (Spain), Institute for transplantation of Organs and Tissues (Slovenia), Institute for Transplantation and Biomedicine, Ministry of Health (Republic of Croatia), Italian National Transplant Centre (Italy), Dinamia Consultoría Social (Spain).
Eudonorgan mainly aims at enhancing the positive attitude towards organ and tissue donation, and ultimately improving donation rates in the European Union and neighboring countries.