Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation CEO makes an excellent point.

Recently on Facebook I read a raw powerful and cutting post by Allen Turner, Founder and CEO OF Zaidee's Rainbow Foundation 🌈

"I was watching The National Press Club today and Rosie Batty was the speaker and she started with the words we have a “National Crisis around the deaths of woman in family violence today”.

A very sad statement to make and a true one at that. She then went on to confirm last year 64 women died in family violence which is a stat we as a nation should be very alarmed to have.

Yet, in the organ and tissue sector we would have lost twice as many, if not more, waiting for a transplant in Australia year after year. There is no data to confirm this at all, as it is too embarrassing for the sector to print for community reading.

Yet, I have never heard an outcry from Donatelife at this level in and around the same wording or from the whole medical sector, to really shake up the community and to think this is happening and how do we fix it?

1800 people currently on the waiting list.

Yet, who knows how many need a transplant not on the waiting list as no data is provided anywhere.

Yet, we do know from talking to people in the sector (under the table) it is a huge number waiting who cannot get on the list due to poor health or other factors.

Yet, the education in and around family violence is massive and governments are spending multi-millions in education and trying to change the culture in the family home and community year after year.

Yet, we are spending maybe a million or so a year on TV adverts which have no cut through and about $440k a year on programs that have no direct or evidence-based outcomes to increase the donation rate going forward.

After 20 years in this sector working fulltime, I am disillusioned in the whole sector, including the so-called government employees and leaders who are not really trying to make a difference.

Yet, how many Rosie’s do we have in this sector?

Yet, the few we may have, are pushing the heavy barrow up hill, beating the drum and yet no-one is listening.

Maybe I should get an invite to present at the National Press Club talking about the poor health in and around organ and tissue donation rate in Australia and shaking up the whole of this country – asking governments to start listening to what is needed and how we go about saving lives. As the last two states (WA and Vic) government committee reports don’t address any of these issues in what I have read, either short-term or long-term to save lives.

I am also Really really disappointed that the federal government don't fund better outcomes for the organ and tissue sector.

#zaideeslaw for and Opt-Out system

The article was feuled by frustration and disappointment. Allan is man who had lost his daughter and and whilst coming to grips with the fact he would never hold her again , see her grow up and have her own family, found the compassion, strength and love, together with his wife Kylie, to make the decision to consent to Organ Doantion. Making young Zaidee and in my opinion, her entire family HEROES for saving the lives of strangers.

On the opposite side of this story are people like the CEO of The Organ & Tissue Authority, Lucinda Barry, who with no first hand lived experience as a donor or deceased donor family, chooses to not want to recognise Deceased Donors or their families as HEROES.

Until there was a 1% increase in consent rates in 2023, since taking the reigns of the Authority the same CEO had presided over 5 consecutive years of decline in the key metrics of Consent and donation rates and an extremely poor performance against self set targets nearly all other metrics.

This CEO has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on advertising campaigns, Sporting Sponsorships and a Sporting Charity that uses nearly the entire value of their federal government funding to pay salaries of a small number of staff and there are no clear demonstrable connections between the funding and the impact on registration or donation rates.

Someone at the Federal Government level must ask questions of why this CEO was awarded and Order of Australia Medal Honour, yet has failed to deliver on the government's objectives.