Be the reason someone else gets a chance at life

A long-serving critical care nurse has made a plea for more Grampians community members to register for organ and tissue donation.

For more than a quarter of a century, Naomi Moore has cared for critically ill patients in Ballarat Base Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. Through her extensive experience in intensive care and her involvement in organ and tissue donation, she has seen the profound impact donation can have on recipients and the comfort it can provide to donor families during an incredibly difficult time.

In recognition of DonateLife Week from 26 July to 2 August, Naomi is encouraging people to start the conversation about organ and tissue donation and to realise their decision could be the reason someone gets a second chance at life.

Naomi has recently been appointed Grampians Health’s Nurse Donation Specialist, after acting in the role for a 10-month period in 2024-25 when she was a donation clinical champion for the ICU.

Grampians Health has donation clinical champions in the Operating Suite, ICU and Emergency Department. These champions are nurses who have shown an interest in organ donation and have been given the opportunity to attend extra training with DonateLife Victoria and through the support of the Nurse Donation Specialist. 

Patients in the ICU and Emergency department for whom there is medical consensus for end-of-life care are routinely referred to DonateLife. Routine referral enables DonateLife to assess suitability for donation, check the patient’s registration status on the Australian Organ Donor Registrar and facilitate the involvement of a Nurse Donation Specialist.

Naomi said clinical champions help increase awareness among their colleagues about routine referral to DonateLife, as well as helping support staff caring for a potential donor and the family.

“We encourage registration so much because organ donation will only go ahead with the support of the family, it will never proceed if your family object.  If someone is registered, around 9 in 10 families say yes to donation,” she said.

“But if families are unaware of their loved one’s wishes, this drops dramatically, with only 4 in 10 families saying yes to donation.

“Some of my most rewarding moments in my ICU career have been working with patients and families in their most difficult moments, during end-of-life care. I found it such a privilege to work with families and support them through what is often one of the most difficult times in their lives.

“I have also had the advantage of seeing the benefits that donation can make not only to recipients but also to donor families as well. I’ve seen the comfort that it can bring to donor families knowing that their loved one was able to make such a generous gift to improve the quality of someone else’s life and often save someone’s life.

“It’s such a privilege to help families to navigate those difficult times and to support them, be honest with them and provide all the information they need.”

Naomi said after their loved one becomes a donor, the donor family is linked in with the DonateLife support system, including the Family Support Coordinator who will reach out to them to touch base and see how they are going.

“We know that 4 in 5 Australians aged 16+ support organ and tissue donation – yet only 1 in 3 are registered,” she said. 

To register to be a donor it’s simply a matter of clicking on the DonateLife website www.donatelife.gov.au and registering. You can also register through Medicare on your My Gov app. It only takes a minute to register!