Heartland Latino Leadership Conference

On Friday, I got the opportunity to attend the Heartland Latino Leadership Conference as an exhibitor for the Nebraska Organ and Tissue Donation Coalition. What a great experience! I was so amazed at the spirit, energy, and excitement from those attending the conference. It was so encouraging to be around a group of people who are so eager to learn.

I got the opportunity to discuss organ donation with many people who stopped by our booth. I was able to share a little bit about why organ and tissue donation is important to me and I had the chance to answer many questions from curious attendees. These ranged from questions about the religious views on organ donation, to the process of a cornea transplant, to questions about how to sign up as a donor! It is always so uplifting to be a part of helping people learn about this truly amazing gift.

According to donatelife.net, there are many multicultural issues facing organ donation. On their website they state, "More than half of the national transplant waiting list is made up of multicultural populations. That's because some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver that are best treated through transplantation are found more frequently in these populations." They also state that "although it is possible for a candidate to match a donor from another racial or ethnic group, transplant success rates increase when organs are matched between members of the same ethnic background." Thus, it is very important for us to target multicultural populations in order to increase the donor registry so that more organs will be available for transplantation in these types of cases.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Heartland Latino Leadership Conference and I hope that I will be able to go back next year and share about the Gift of Life with even more conference goers!