DonateLife WA aims to raise awareness and encourage discussion about organ and tissue donation in the wider community. Currently only 38% of Western Australian’s have registered their donation decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and nationally only 8% of all 16–25-year-olds have registered their decision. It is now possible to register online in less than a minute at – https://donatelife.gov.au/register-donor-today – you just need your Medicare details.
How we help you:
- We share expert knowledge, experience, and passion in a fun and interactive way with your students.
- We help you teach students about the organ and tissue donation process and why it is important to talk about it with family and friends.
We make it interesting!
- We tell real-life stories.
- We use videos, prizes, and engaging content.
- School education resources and information about organ and tissue donation are also available online – https://www.donatelife.gov.au/education-resources. These are aligned to the learning descriptions in the Australian Curriculum and are now available for both teachers and students.
Getting your school involved
Getting involved with a DonateLife event is an easy way to help bring the organ and tissue donation lessons to life for your students.
There are three main events you could choose to take part in each year, giving the students something fun to do, while also raising awareness in your school community about DonateLife.
The Gift of Life Walk encourages schools to take students on a 5k walk, whether that be multiple times around the school oval, or on a route near the school. It’s a double bonus to take part in the walk as the students get to be active, while learning a bit more about a sensitive topic. If you register your school when registrations open, you’ll be sent some free shirts and caps for the students to wear!
DonateLife Week is the national awareness raising week for organ and tissue donation. During the week you could host a morning tea and sell cute heart-shaped biscuits (monies raised could be donated to your local children’s hospital or favourite charity); ask your local DonateLife agency to send in a guest speaker to speak at assembly; run a ‘design a DonateLife poster’ competition or hold a poetry or writing competition.
Jersey Day was started by Nathan Gremmo’s family to honour the 13-year-old who donated his organs following an accident. It’s easy to take part in the day, just tell your students to wear their favourite sports jersey, then take some photos and post them to your school social pages tagging #donatelife.
DonateLife WA also offers school assembly and in classroom guest speaker (Year 11 & 12 students), and attendance at School Health Expositions.
For further information, please ask to speak with the Communications Officer.
