The coronavirus on Smart Talk Thursday: Organ donations falling, a community fund for non-profits in need, and The Coronavirus Diaries on WITF-TV

• Merideth Bucher
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Producer of WITF's Smart Talk

At any given time, there are more than 100-thousand people waiting for an organ transplant. Every 10 minutes another person is added to the waiting list. 

Wait times for transplants can vary, with the average time frame between three to five years – if you are fortunate. A little more than 50 percent of people on the waiting list receive an organ within that time frame.

Now, people needing transplants must contend with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It has created a worse situation where there just aren’t nearly enough donor organs available.

Rick Hasz is the Gift of Life Donor Program’s vice president of clinical services and he joins Smart Talk on Thursday to spotlight the shortages. He is joined by Geisinger kidney and liver transplant surgeon Dr. Michael Marvin, MD, along with Sarah Reesey, a Lancaster nurse and mother whose son is waiting for a heart transplant.

Local non-profits are using the COVID-19 situation to form response partnerships; a way to collate resources to optimize the impact.

The Foundation for Enhancing Communities and The United Way of the Capital Region have teamed up to establish a Community Response Fund partnership.

Tim Fatzinger, President and CEO of the United Way of the Capitol Region and Janice Black, President and CEO of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities will appear on Smart Talk to discuss how the fund will impact other area non-profits.

Finally, the coronavirus is affecting each one of us in different ways and has made connecting with friends and neighbors more challenging. Transforming Health’s Keira McGuire has been collecting stories about the impact and produced a program for WITF-TV – The Coronavirus Diaries. Keira joins Smart Talk to highlight the unique way the program was produced.