Jack Zaleski introduced our speaker, Dr. John Gill who is a Professor of Medicine with tenure at UBC, Division of Nephrology, St. Paul’s Hospital.
Dr. Gill is an active researcher whose interests include clinical outcomes in kidney transplantation, access to care, clinical trials and health services research. He has served as the supervisor for Masters and PhD candidates at the UBC School of Population and Public Health. He holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Foundation Grant and received the Established Clinical Investigator Award from the American Society of Transplantation in 2017. He is a Past President of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and the Canadian Organ Replacement Register Board of Directors. He previously served as a co-chair of the White House Research and Innovation in Transplantation Working Group under President Obama.
Dr Gill currently serves on the Expert Advisory Panel of the United States Renal Data System and the External Expert Panel of the NIH Apollo Study. John is Consulting Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation and Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. John is the current President of the American Society of Transplantation (the first Canadian to hold the position), and is also a member of several national working groups to advance care for transplant recipients in Canada.
Dr. Gill spoke primarily about the Living Donor Circle of Excellence. He acknowledged that approximately 60% of transplants are deceased donors, the rest are living donations. It is the latter that the Living Donor Circle of Excellence is working to support.
The mission of the Canadian Society of Transplantation is to “advance the practice and science of transplantation for the benefit of Canadians and society”.
The mission of the American Society of Transplantation (with about 4,000 multi-disciplinary members) is “an organization dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, organ donation, and service to the community”.
People who donate are heroes, whether deceased or living. The program is working to address societal perceptions of transplantations and the donors who give so much to help another.
Living donors face a significant financial burden. E.g., loss of wages, increased expenses (child care, senior care, accommodation, etc.). There is a 4-6 week recovery time after surgery. Though there are some reimbursements through limited initiatives and programs, the net losses are still a major disincentive for donors. The vision is to eliminate the costs of being a living organ donor.
There is no standard to address loss of salary. People will use unpaid sick days or banked vacation days. This is incredibly generous. In addition to the out of pocket expenses for an individual, when it’s not a company’s HR practice, it is looked at as a liability for employees. They are working, through the Living Donor Circle of Excellence to change this – to ensure that there are no negative impacts, financially or professionally.
The program objectives are:
- To recognize employers who implement company policies to provide salary support for:
- An employee who chooses to be a living organ donor, and/or
- An employee in need of an organ transplant whose living donor lacks salary support during the recovery period.
The program criteria for inclusion in “the circle” are:
- Typical leaves of absence for approximately 4 weeks (range is 2-8 weeks for recovery)
- Cover a minimum proportion of wage support of 80%
- Provide an annual confirmation of support and reporting of activity to AST
- Be recognized based on the company’s policy implementation
There is no upfront cost to companies. Noting that only 6 per 100,000 employees are affected.
Since the programs launch, mid COVID, there have been 50 companies with over 1.5 million employess collectively who have signed up.
Why would a company want to join? Not only does it demonstrate the financial commitment to employees considering the altruistic act of living organ donation, it is noted that these companies become, as a result, more desirable to potential hires and clients.
Are really out to change the perception and provide the opportunity for companies to get involved at no upfront cost. AST is much bigger organization – contact them if interested in more information for The Circle of Life.
Links:
- American Society of Transplantation, Living Donor Circle of Excellence web, CLICK HERE
- Canadian Society of Transplantation, Living Donor Circle of Excellence web, CLICK HERE
