Aspiring Health Professionals (AHP) is a Metea club that supports students who are possibly interested in the medical field for the future. They hold activities which educate students on the medical field and advocate for health-based change within the community.
Currently, the club is running an organ donor campaign called “LEAD” that aims to motivate Metea students to participate in donations. Over the course of the week, they have been hosting several activities to raise awareness of teen donors, encouraging the process.
“Students thinking ‘outside the box’ and planning creative events at their schools to educate their peers is the best way to involve so many others in our message,” Life Goes On regional coordinator Margaret Pearson said. “Our ultimate goal is, of course, to increase the Illinois Donor Registry. We hope we’re doing that with LEAD.”
Pearson has been working with Aspiring Health Professionals to coordinate the events and connect the club with the LEAD program, an initiative created by the Secretary of State’s office to encourage students to advocate for organ donation in their communities
In the United States, approximately 17 patients die each day waiting for an organ transplant. This problem can be easily overcome as each single donor can save up to eight lives and prolong 75 more, as found by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Yet, despite these harsh facts, the topic of organ donation is something that many students either dismiss or are not informed about.
Freshman Olivia Donnely shares her story and how organ donation saved her life:
“I was born with a congenital heart defect, which led me to have three open heart surgeries in my first two years of life,” Donnely said.
She then went into heart failure in September of 2012, causing her to be placed on the list for a heart transplant.
“[I received] my first heart transplant on November 27, 2012,” Donnely said.
The heart was donated by a girl who passed away young, and her parents made the decision to donate her organs, saving Donnely and many others.
“I was one of the many kids that she got to save,” Donnely said. “Her heart was my gift.”
However, seven years after her first transplant, Donnely experienced another heart failure, causing her to need yet another transplant.
“My parents got the call on Christmas Eve that they had a donor heart available, and I was in surgery by that morning,” she said.
Stories like this show just how important organ donation is, which is why Aspiring Health Professionals is taking this week to highlight the importance of donation. On Monday, the club participated in a Ribboning / Lunchroom Myth Buster activity. On Tuesday, they orchestrated a Chalk the Walk. For Wednesday, the club has created a Myth Busters Scavenger Hunt for students. Finally, Thursday and Friday will have lunchroom sign ups to become donors. During PE periods on Friday, their campaign will wrap with a big career fair.
”One of the best ways to educate students about organ donation is for them to speak to their fellow students and peer groups with a positive message that organ transplants save lives,” Pearson said.
The ultimate goal of this event is to raise awareness around organ donation and its importance.
“I want to say thank you to all of the members of Aspiring Health Professionals who are working to the best of their ability to educate people,” Donnely said.
