How To Ensure People Know That You Are An Organ Donor

Two easy ways to make it known

August is National Organ Donor Awareness month in South Africa, so what better way than to become an organ donor but make sure you inform those around you of your decision. I recently learned that even if you register to be an organ donor in South Africa, it is still not consent for you. Our common law overrides the health act, so your family will decide what happens to your body. This is why communication is so important.

Tell People — Get The Conversation Going

If you wish to be an organ donor when you pass away, you need to inform your family, relatives and loved ones of your decision so that they can inform the medical practitioners or relevant people.

Have a look at the Organ Donor Foundation website for more information: www.odf.org.za

You can still register to be an organ donor, but registering does not mean you are giving consent to being an organ donor.

Get Inked With the #MakeItKnownTattoo

TELL (Transplant Education for Living Legacies) is an incredibly special organization raising awareness around transplants, organ and tissue donation and being a part of educating others.

TELL has a tattoo design for their #MakeItKnown campaign where one can have a tattoo inked on themselves to allow for their family, friends and others around them aware that they wish to be an organ donor when they pass away. (Seriously check this organization out, they’re making big changes to raise awareness for organ donation).

Several tattoo parlors around the country have agreed to charge R200 to tattoo the #MakeItKnown quotation mark design on individuals that wish to participate. Keep an eye out on the TELL social media accounts for which tattoo studios are involved.

The most important part of organ and tissue donation, is conversation — TELL

We need to tell our story and we need to communicate to others that we wish to be an organ donor. Help save lives, you could be giving someone the chance to live their life in a healthier way.