TRIO joined with the International Transplant Nurses Society (ITNS) on September 25-27, 2008, at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, Mis­souri, for an exciting Symposium filled with edu­cational workshops, stimulating panel debates and discussion, along with exceptionally infor­mative speaker sessions.  Transplant recipients joined more than 400 transplant nurses from 17 countries around the world to share experiences, personal time and educational adventures.

   The TRIO program allowed time for each speaker to present information and then open the floor for a question and answer session. Many participants expressed their appreciation for the amount of time allowed for the Q&A ses­sions and were pleased with the informative re­sponses of the session leaders. 

   Thursday’s program opened with a TRIO ses­sion of welcome and introduction, followed by a presentation by Richard Darling, DDS, discuss­ing the ethical issues in bio-medical research funding and America’s organ donor crisis. Dr. Darling is the President and CEO of the Fair Foundation.

   Linda Cheatham, CPA, (President of TRIO Na­tional Capital Area Chapter) and TRIO’s liaison to the Washington, DC, Transplant Roundtable, then presented a detailed discussion of what Congress is doing about transplantation, re­viewing all legislative bills currently in the House and Senate. Ms. Cheatham also shared informa­tion about recently passed and currently pro­posed legislation and its effect on transplanta­tion, present and future.

   At the ITNS/TRIO luncheon on Thursday, Susan Morgan, PhD, Associate Professor of Communications at Purdue University, pre­sented an informative and entertaining video of many of today’s popular television programs and the program’s  MIS-interpretation of transplant facts. Dr. Morgan also shared methods through which she and her colleagues counter the inac­curacies of television portrayals. She then offered methods for the attendees to participate in cor­recting erroneous presentations on TV.

   On Thursday afternoon, Stacy Bower, RN, a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with the UCLA Health System led an informative discussion about depression in post transplant patients.

   Thursday sessions ended with an emotionally filled informal donor family session led by Tom and Joanne Kasprzak, donor parents. Tom and Joanne were joined by Kerry Keenan, the recipi­ent of a heart donated after the Kasprzak’s daughter died of a massive stroke. The beautiful, emotional sharing and openness of Tom, Joanne and Kerry was deeply meaningful to all who attended the session.

   TRIO’s Friday morning session was filled with a very spirited debate on the pro’s and con’s of fi­nancial incentives to increase organ donation. Gabriel Danovitch, MD, UCLA Transplantation Program; Richard Darling, DDS; Thomas Falsey of Bayer Healthcare; and Thomas Peters, MD, Transplant Services at Shands Hospital in Jack­sonville, FL, expressed strong opinions on each perspective of the issue. The audience excitedly participated in the discussion. Attendees were expressive and verbal, contributing to a very exciting session, sharing and discussion.

“The Pro’s and Con’s of Financial Incentives to Increase Organ Donation”  panel participants
(left to right): Richard Darling, DDS; Thomas G. Peters, MD; Gabriel Danovitch, MD; Thomas Falsey, Bayer Healthcare.

Friday’s luncheon speaker, Reg Green, spoke about the situation surrounding his 10-year-old son’s death in Italy, the organ donation decisions made by his family during their tour of a foreign country, and the eventual experience and growth from the unfortunate death of his son, Nicholas. After Reg spoke to the group, Jim Gleson called for the transplant recipients in the room to come forward and distribute Reg’s book, The Gift that Heals, to the transplant nurses. Each book handed to a transplant nurse contained a per­sonal letter from a recipient. The emotional gift of the letters has had a far-reaching affect.  (click to read separate article.)

   Friday afternoon’s session led off with a star­tlingly informative discussion about skin cancer and the transplant recipient, presented by Summer Youker, MD, of UC-Davis, Sacramento.  

   Nicole Mendez Pinkerton, a consultant with the National Institute of Transplantation in Los An­geles, shared information on educating and pre­paring the dialysis patient for choices available in organ transplantation.

   Friday’s program ended with an informative session on how Donate Life Hollywood monitors media storylines. Bryan Stewart, VP of Commu­nications for OneLegacy in Los Angeles, and President of Donate Life California, shared ex­periences and functions of how media story lines are monitored and countered.

   Complimenting Mr. Stewart’s presentation was OneLegacy Communications Specialist Tenaya Wallace, discussing the activity and initiatives of Donate Life Hollywood.

   Saturday’s program opened with a very active presentation by Vanessa Underwood, Certified Professional Fitness Consultant, discussing and demonstrating exercises for keeping healthy after transplant. Frederick Riccardi of the Medicare Rights Center in New York followed with an in­formative session discussing patients’ rights un­der the Medicare and Medicaid Programs.

   The morning’s program ended with a lively roundtable discussion on the importance and necessity of aftercare required by transplantrecipients. Participating in the panel were liver recipient Elizabeth Rubin and her husband Bruce, heart recipient Jim Gleason and his wife, Pam, and liver recipient Brent Axthelm and his mother Dede Axthelm.

  At Saturday’s luncheon, Jeffrey S. Crippin, MD, Medical Director of Liver Transplantation at Washington University, shared informative views on the historical and future pathways of public policy developments relating to transplantation.

Jackie Colleran (L), member of the TRIO Ventura County/West Valley Chapter, introduced Dr. Crippin (R).

   The afternoon program led with Daniel Bren­nan, MD, Medical Director of the Kidney/ Trans­plant Programs, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, presenting a discussion of islet cell  transplant.

   Drew Silverman, PharmD, of Tampa General Hospital, then led a most informative and shar­ing session about the advances in transplant medication, highlighting today’s changing medi­cations and what is being projected for the fu­ture. Dr. Silverman’s presentation was compli­mented by Sharon Brigner of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Washington, DC, who led a discussion of the advances in ac­cess to medications. Ms. Brigner’s presentation highlighted paths of access through the PhRMA partnership with the PPA (Partnership for Pre­scription Access).

   During the afternoon session, Vanessa Under­wood led a break-out forum for women about cancer propensity in the transplant patient.

   The Symposium ended with a combined ITNS/TRIO session presenting motivational speaker Jessica Melore, a heart transplant re­cipient and cancer survivor. Jessica’s emotion­al address to the combined group was an ending high-note for both TRIO and ITNS Symposium attendees.

   In his President's Message in the October 2008 issue of Lifelines, sent to all TRIO members, President J.T. Rhodes said: "The TRIO Symposium in St. Louis was an outstanding success thanks to Conference Chair Ron Taubman and committee members Elizabeth Rubin, Jeffrey Moualim, Sylvia Leach and myself."  Also, a special thanks to Ron's wife, Arden, for her work with the ad book and overall support.

Action: Plan to get involved in your local TRIO chapter's educational initiatives or attend those that are offered in your area.  Also, make a committment to attend the next TRIO conference when it is scheduled.  As you can read above, they are great oppontunities for everyone.

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