Creating sustainable and consistent community engagement through corporate outreach and the development of effective partnerships

Simone McMahon¹

¹Organ Donation & Transplant Foundation of WA, Perth, Australia

TITLE: Creating sustainable and consistent community engagement through corporate outreach and the development of effective partnerships

BACKGROUND: Effective community engagement strategies play an integral part in encouraging family discussion and raising community awareness about organ and tissue donation, directly impacting on donation and consent rates.

In 2008 Simone McMahon AM founded the Organ Donation & Transplant Foundation of WA (ODAT) as a result of returning from a Winston Churchill Fellowship. As part of the fellowship, she travelled to the US, UK and Spain where she studied the Internationals models of organ and tissue donation and the educational and promotional strategies used to increase organ and tissue donation awareness and community engagement.

As a result of findings from this Fellowship, in 2009 ODAT established the "Workplace Partnerships for Life Program"

AIM OF THE WORKPLACE PARTNERSHIPS FOR LIFE PROGRAM:

• To provide encouragement and support to employers in educating their staff about the life-saving and life-enhancing benefits of organ and tissue donation.
• To facilitate in the dissemination of accurate information about organ and tissue donation via workplaces

OUTLINE SUMMARY: 

This program provides employers of WA workplaces with access to accurate information required to enable their staff to make an informed decision about donation for themselves or their loved ones.

 This is achieved through;

• Appointment of Project Officer
• Onsite Education Seminars
• Networking Events
• eNewsletter

Since its establishment 2009, this corporate outreach program has evolved to become a proven successful mechanism in building partnerships and creating sustainable and consistent community engagement reaching over 10,000 employees within its first year.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The Organ and Tissue Authority and DonateLife WA