Celebrating Organ Donation Week

Organ Donation Week takes place between 20th-26th September 2021 and, to help raise awareness, we have added some stickers to our rainbow on Chantry Square!

Natalie Ashley, a specialist nurse for organ donation from the Eastern Organ Donation Services Team got in touch with us to tell us about how important it is to raise awareness and get talking about organ donation. Read our interview below…

Natalie, can you tell us about Organ Donation Week?

The national week aims to inspire people to have conversations with their family about organ donation to save lives.

We want to raise lots of awareness about this, get people talking so they know the wishes of those they love and visit organdonation.nhs.u

We have asked Norwich Castle, City Hall and other flagship locations around Norwich to turn pink to mark the week. I was having dinner at The Real Greek at Chantry Place and saw the rainbow so got in touch with the team. For the first day of the week, on Monday 20th, we were also joined by some choirs and local dance schools too across the city, as well as families of loved ones who donated organs. 

Can you tell us about your role?

I am a specialist nurse and approach families in ICU speaking to the loved ones of those at the end of their lives to see if they are happy to support. At a time when we have nothing else to offer the families of these patients, we give them a chance to make sure their story doesn’t end there and it is such a positive thing being able to save the lives of others.

Why do we need to have conversations about organ donation?

Statistics show that most people want to donate but they haven’t told their loved ones, so some families feel that it is easier to say no, even though they haven’t opted out on the register. We want people to have these conversations so that they know their wishes and can honour them.

Visit organdonation.nhs.uk