The Module 2 of the Organ Donation Ambassador training held on 22nd January 2022, was attended by 8 participants. The group included 4  students  and some Ambassadors who needed a refresher training. Dr. Hemal Kanvinde – Quality Assurance Officer of MOHAN Foundation, Chennai moderated the online training session. This was the 12th batch of Ambassadors.

Participants’ introduction, the first segment, brought out their motivation to join the Ambassador Training. One of the trainee had a family story of kidney transplant and another who lost an aunt to liver failure. These real life stories brought out the need for awareness. 

The second session was a feedback on the Gift of Life course and meeting experts. Many questions were asked to Dr. Rajeevalochana Parthasarathy – Transplant Physician and Nephrologist, MMM Hospital, Chennai, Dr. Bhanu Chandrs and Ms. Jaya Jairam, Director Maharasthra.  

The discussions were around : 

What is the actual process of organ retrieval in the operation theatre and how the does donor body look after the donation? 

For how long is a voluntary body donation kept for medical students?  

What are the outcomes of pediatric and adult transplants? How can I convince my family and friends to support and pledge for donation?  

Where can we go to pledge for donation? 

Why is donation after cardiac death not regular practiced in India?

What is the quality of life for recipients and how to ensure safety of living donors?

If a person has cardiac illness - can he be a heart donor? 

Is it safe to have an organ transplant from other animals - like the pig heart transplanted recently done? 

This extremely lively discussion lasted more than an hour. 

The third session was on the different mode of communication of a social cause. Using an illustrative presentation Dr. Hemal Kanvinde explained that COVID 19 Pandemic restrictions has led to new ways of creating awareness. The participants were exposed to creative ways of explaining the noble cause.

The next session was the Gratitude and Communication workshop conducted by Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi of MOHAN Foundation,  Delhi NCR.  She gave tips on how to express gratitude and communicate about the value of the second chance at life. The participants were asked to place themselves in the shoes of an organ recipient and write letters thanking the donor family. Letters written by all the participants were read out and she explained the best points in each letter. 

The last session was on “How to make a good presentation”. Dr Muneet, gave tips on how to prepare a presentation and effectively present it to an audience. She explained that reading about the topic, using less text and incorporating pictures  helps to get a message across more easily. She also said that the talk is a performance and only multiple  practice shall make it so. 

A poll was held to understand how the ambassadors would like to contribute and majority chose to conduct awareness sessions. In the last feedback segment, the participants shared that  the patience with which all queries were answered and the content of the training was very good and helpful for them to get an idea on how to proceed in future.  There was a request for education materials and information brochures to be given to them.