TREC, TIBI, & One Lambda Inc. Launch Mass Media Campaign to Promote Living Donation

November 25, 2020

The Transplant Research and Education Center (TREC), in partnership with the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation and One Lambda Inc., on October 21st launched a 6-month mass media campaign to raise awareness about the Living Donation Storytelling Project. The campaign seeks to reach kidney and transplant patients, living donors, and nephrology, dialysis, and transplant professionals across the nation to help them learn about the innovative educational resources available through the Living Donation Storytelling Project. The Living Donation Storytelling Project is an online digital library of video stories recorded by real living donors, recipients, family members, and those in need of a kidney.

The online digital library houses more than 160 videos that donors, recipients, family members, and people in need of a transplant video-record using their smartphone, laptop, or tablet. They shared candidly about their experience with disease and transplantation. Those in need of a kidney can also share a video story about their search for a living donor. The goal of the campaign is to gather more stories, help providers learn about this tool, and to amplify the patient voice by inviting diverse patients from communities that typically experience health disparities to tell their stories about LDKT.

The resource is unique because it highlights patient and donor-driven concerns, and includes firsthand stories of how individuals overcame barriers to transplant and donation.  These personal stories, and educational compilation videos covering common questions such as ‘What does it feel like to donate a kidney?’ and ‘How can I ask someone to be my donor?,’ allow for on-demand learning and outreach with the general public. Unlike traditional health education, where information is delivered directly from provider to patient in a clinical setting, the Living Donation Storytelling Project provides a platform for a more personalize experience, where website visitors can select a story that resonates with them the most to help them learn about living donation. Additionally, giving storytellers a platform to share their experiences empowers the storytellers while simultaneously creating health literate and culturally sensitive education for viewers. This joint campaign will raise awareness about living donor kidney transplant, help more people use the digital library, inspire potential donors, collect diverse stories, and remind people about the beauty and generosity that is present in the organ transplant and donation community.