The grant also provides funds in the first year for the study of student attitudes toward organ and tissue donation and transplantation. OU researchers will provide a pre-test for students in a number of selected schools in Oklahoma, then after the curriculum materials are presented to the students in a classroom setting, they will be given a post-test to measure any changes in their knowledge and attitudes on the issues.

Diane Lewis, an educator who is also a liver recipient, will head up Project Team Life. "Our goal is to provide accurate information about organ and tissue donation and transplantation to all Oklahoma school children," says Lewis, "but the project is also about teaching decision-making and problem-solving skills."

The consortium was one of 18 applicants awarded grants from the Division of Transplantation of the Health Resources Services Administration. All the grants are designed to promote organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Mary Ganikos, chief of the education branch of the Division of Transplantation, says they saw merit in Project Team Life.

"If our goal is for Americans to consider donation as a fundamental civic responsibility, our strategy needs to include introducing this issue to our nation’s young-when attitudes are formed and perspectives developed," says Ganikos. "The Oklahoma project does precisely that. In addition, we are pleased that Native American children and youth will be among those exposed to this project. We are truly looking forward to working with this impressive Oklahoma team."

The objectives of the three-year project are to assess the level of knowledge and attitudes of a sample group of Oklahoma students about organ and tissue donation and transplantation then intervene by presenting curriculum materials. If the materials are shown to be effective, curriculum kits will be created and distributed to Oklahoma schools for use by teachers in years two and three. Teachers will also receive training on how to use the materials.

The kits consist of a comprehensive curriculum guide with teaching material for grades K-12, videotapes, an interactive computer program, story books, transparencies, a music CD and hands-on material such as anatomy aprons and cornea blindness glasses. The materials were created in a way that will meet requirements for the State Education Department's Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS).

Robert Turner, executive director of the Oklahoma Organ Sharing Network, says Project Team Life has been in the works for a long time, and it's exciting to see it finally become reality. "We have always known," says Turner, "that the schools would be the most effective away to educate Oklahomans about organ and tissue donation and transplantation. This is information young people need to have, and the grant funds are going to allow us to get the information to them."

There are now more than 76,000 Americans waiting for organ transplants, and 600 of them are Oklahomans. Tens of thousands more wait for tissue transplants. Approximately 20 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. Last year, 54 Oklahomans died while on the waiting list.

The Oklahoma Donor Coalition, which is an alliance of organ and tissue procurement agencies, transplant centers and patient groups, includes the American Red Cross Tissue Services, the Oklahoma Lions Eye Bank, the Oklahoma Organ Sharing Network, the National Kidney Foundation of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma chapter of Transplant Recipients International Organization, Integris Baptist Medical Center, University Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma and Saint Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, and St. Francis Hospital, St. John Medical Center and Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa.

For More Information Contact:

Oklahoma Organ Sharing Network
5801 North Broadway, Suite 300 100
Tel: 1-888-580-5680
FAX: 1-405-840-9748
Internet: philvs@oosn.org