[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Carolyn Welsh, President and CEO of New Jersey Sharing Network.

Carolyn, good to see you.

- Good to see you, Steve.

- We also wanna thank our good friend, Joe Roth, who, for many years, was your predecessor at the Sharing Network and we've been involved in a longtime public awareness effort around organ and tissue donation.

Carolyn, as we are in the spring, moving into 2023, this will be seen a little bit after we're taping.

Where are we right now when it comes to organ and tissue donation?

- So what we like to say is Jersey generosity is knocking it out of the park right now.

So, in New Jersey right now, we are having an amazing year saving more lives than ever before.

We ended 2022 with a record year, a 21% increase in organ donors and increase in organs transplanted.

And then in 2023, we're actually doing even better than '22.

- So as we put up the website right now, we've, Jacqui Tricarico, my colleague and I are are actually gonna be at the, the 5k, which is a walk run and there'll be people who have received the Gift of Life, whose family members have given the Gift of Life to others.

It seems obvious, but it's called the Gift of Life.

Talk about that, Carolyn.

- Yeah.

So one organ donor can save up to eight lives and one tissue donor can enhance the lives of 75 people.

So when someone passes away they have the opportunity to say yes and give the generous and precious Gift of Life to someone else to give them a second chance to live.

- So again, as the website's up for the Sharing Network find out more if you want to consider being an organ donor.

And there's so much other important information there.

I wanna try this.

I'm curious about this.

We've asked in previous segments that we've done, Carolyn, we've talked about the misconceptions, the misperceptions or the perception, if you will, of what organ donation is about.

What confusion still exists in your mind that we need to clear up?

- So I think coming off of the last couple of years and healthcare in general and hospitals and visitors allowed in hospitals or not, it has changed a little bit of the dynamic with organ donation and what our role is to facilitate the gift.

And what that means is is that when someone's loved one passes away, we go to the hospital.

We're a separate organization.

So the team that's taking care of you in the hospital are separate from New Jersey Sharing Network.

We come to the hospital at the time of someone's death and we support the family to be able to make the decision for their loved one, if their loved one did not make the decision themselves.

So it's the, the myth, I think a misconception piece about you know, are you not gonna be cared for in the hospital?

We are a separate organization that comes in at the time to offer this unique opportunity because not everyone can be an organ donor.

So it's a very unique and specific way when someone is approached for organ donation that they can give the Gift of Life.

- Hmm.

I'm gonna ask about COVID but I'm gonna also disclose that Carolyn is a trustee of the Caucus Educational Corporation of our board.

Carolyn, let me ask you this.

The three years plus into the COVID pandemic, the most significant impact from your perspective in terms of the work, not just of your organization, but on the whole question of organ donation has been what?

- So, we never stopped, I think organ donation in a strange way was prepared for something like that because what we deal with every day is not something that's planned.

So COVID wasn't planned.

So organ donation is not planned.

No one sends their loved one off that day in the morning and think that they're not gonna return.

So everything that we routinely did up to that point, I think, prepared us to be the best we could during the pandemic.

Pivot.

Right.

We've talked about that before.

Bob and weave.

We've talked about, you know, changing your way.

Our job was to say how are we going to transplant and save people's lives?

Not, can we do it?

How are we gonna make this happen?

So that's really, I think we were prepared as best as we could and took on the challenges head on and we saved more people's lives than ever before.

- I'm gonna let everybody know there are a couple dates and this may be seen after in repeats but May 20th, Saturday, May 20th, 2023 in Ocean Grove.

What's happening there?

There's a Celebration of Life 5K there and also on June 11th, in New Providence where the headquarters is of the Sharing Network.

That's the 5K that I was saying that Jacqui Tricarico and I will be there interviewing people who are so connected to this movement.

What's happening in Ocean Grove?

- So Ocean Grove, it's our first time in Ocean Grove.

We're very excited for Ocean Grove to accept us in to and accept them into the Sharing Network family.

So we moved our site for the Monmouth County area to Ocean Grove, so May 20th we kick it off.

It's a large 5K where donor families, recipients, those that are waiting and anyone that is really an advocate for donation come together to bring awareness so that we can continue to share the message of this lifesaving gift.

- Okay.

There are two, two other items.

One is talk about the initiative #DonationNeedsDiversity This issue is an issue we've covered before.

- Yes.

- The, the problem, the challenge, the opportunity, if you will, in the minority community is huge in this regard.

There's an issue there.

Please talk about it, Carolyn.

- Yes.

So multicultural communities, we live in New Jersey.

It's why we all stay.

We love it.

The multicultural communities that we serve in New Jersey are impacted by donation and transplant.

So our job is to take the message to the communities that need it the most and make sure that we're bringing information to them in a way that they can accept it, feel comfortable and then share it with their loved ones so that if they were ever in the unique opportunity to say yes to donation they can and they feel comfortable doing that.

But also set the awareness about with disease and illnesses that would lead to transplant that they know the resources that they can get to in New Jersey at our transplant centers.

- Final question on this.

We talked about the fact that this is a longtime public awareness effort that we've been involved in supported by the Sharing Network.

How can people, if they choose to, if they want to or they're curious about signing up, my license says what it says and makes it clear that I'm an organ donor.

- Yes.

- How else can, is that the easiest way?

- So I would say that most people feel the easiest way is to go to our website, www.njsharingnetwork.org and you can register on our website.

It takes you to the National Donate Life registry so that no matter where you live, that registry can be accessed as opposed to motor vehicles where you're in New Jersey and it would be a New Jersey registry.

So that, for us, is what we share and say go to the website, sign up to be an organ donor there.

And the biggest message is to do that, but to share your decision with your family.

Talk to your family about what your wishes are and what you would like to do.

No one wants to be in a situation where they learn something new about their loved one at the time of their death.

So share your decision, share this lifesaving gift and share with your family that you want to be an organ donor.

- That's Carolyn Welsh, the new as we speak President and CEO of New Jersey's Sharing Network.

Carolyn, thanks so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

We'll be right back.

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