An Angels of Change Training programme was organised for the pharmacy students and interns of the JSS College of Pharmacy in Ooty on the 24^th August 2019. Ms Ishwarya Thyagarajan, Ms Ranjini Shankar and Mr Nishanth C V (Transplant Coordinator) were the trainers. The training was attended by 36 students and 2 faculty – Dr Arun Parthasarathy and Dr Deepalakshmi. Dr. Dhanabal, Principal of the college and the Rotary President Dr Balasubramaniam V addressed the students before the training kicked off.

 

Following a round of introduction, the training began with a refresher on the concepts of organ donation, brain death, transplant law and ethics, and videos explaining these were also played. The students were highly interested in the brain stem death testing and had many questions on the subject. MOHAN Foundation and AOC were briefly introduced to them as well.

 

Mr. Nishanth then explained the role of TRANSTAN, role of TCs and grief counsellors, organ allocation process, the transplant wait list and documentation required in various scenarios. Ms Ranjini spoke about Jeevasarthakathe and breaking the bad news to the family. The protocol followed in the hospitals during an organ donation scenario was briefly explained to the participants.

 

The participants were then made to read stories of donors and watch videos of recipients sharing their experiences and write letters thanking donors and their families from a recipient’s perspective. A few best-written letters were awarded a token of appreciation.

 

Raising awareness about the cause among the public and ways to do it was the next segment of the training. Activities done by previous Angels were shared with the group. The students were then divided into 4 groups and were assigned the following tasks:

• Preparing and presenting the concepts of organ donation and transplantation
• Planning an awareness programme
• Designing posters on the theme of organ donation
• Presenting a skit of the theme

 

The students enthusiastically participated and completed the tasks assigned. The work of each group was critically analysed, areas of improvement were highlighted and feedbacks were shared.

 

The following tasks were taken up by the students as part of the AOC follow-up:

• Organising an awareness programme for the students of a nearby school as a first step
• Promoting the helpline number at auto stands, public places, police stations, hospitals and educational institutions
• Promoting the helpline number of the town’s eye bank to improve eye donation rates
• Reaching out to educational institutions and marketing the Transplant Coordinator’s Training Courses
• Planning events like marathons, walks and awareness events on a larger scale around the town

 

Most of the participants signed up as organ donors and collected their donor cards. After sharing their feedback about the session, they received their certificates and the session came to a close with group photos being clicked. With active participation from the students the session was a great success and both JSS College and MOHAN Foundation look forward to collaborations in the future.