Big 3, UAW seek organ donors

Automakers, union and Compuware join forces to promote transplant registry

By Sharon Terlep

The Detroit News

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Bridget A. Barrett / Special to The Detroit News Ford retiree Margie McCall, who needs a kidney transplant, says the donor push should "be kicked up a notch or two."

Waiting Number of people in Michigan added to waiting lists for new organs: 2004: 1,430 2003: 1,180 2002: 1,096 2001: 1,170 2000: 1,110 Number of transplants performed statewide: 2004: 918 2003: 784 2002: 791 2001: 758 2000: 721 Source: Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network

Detroit's automakers, the United Auto Workers and Compuware Corp. are banding together in a major effort to promote organ donation among more than 380,000 Michigan workers and retirees.

Starting this month, employees at the companies will be showered with a message: Michigan has a serious shortage of humans organs needed for transplants and they can make a difference by agreeing to be donors.

The initiative, called Quest for Life, will be formally announced Thursday at a banquet in Dearborn.

The scarcity of organs such as kidneys, lungs and hearts threatens the health of thousands of people. Thirteen people in Michigan died in January while waiting for a new organ and 119 people were added to waiting lists, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network in Richmond, Va.

"This needs to be kicked up a notch or two," said Margie McCall, a Ford Motor Co. retiree from Detroit who is on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. "The waiting time could be cut so much if people would consider organ donation."

Like many of the more than 2,106 people statewide waiting for a new kidney, McCall spends more than 10 hours a week undergoing life-sustaining kidney dialysis treatments that leave her nauseous and tired. Another 559 state residents are on waiting lists for a new liver, heart, pancreas or lung.

The lists -- and waiting times -- are only expected to grow as more people are diagnosed with chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

On the dialysis regimen since 2001, McCall expects to wait at least another two years to receive a new kidney that would cleanse the toxins from her blood so she doesn't have to rely on a machine.

The dialysis treatments take a toll on the 51-year-old former paralegal secretary, who must maintain a strict diet and had to retire from Ford in 2001 because she was too fatigued to work.

Dialysis is a costly expense for employers. A patient's treatment costs $44,000 a year on average, according to a study this year by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Replacing a kidney and treating a patient in the first year after a transplant cost about $90,000. Costs average $16,000 in the following years for anti-rejection medication.

That means a 10-year regimen of dialysis would run $440,000, while a transplant would cost $234,000 during the same time.

Kidney dialysis alone cost Americans $4.7 billion in 2002, nearly four times the $1.2 billion tab for transplants.

Ford, General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG, the United Auto Workers and Compuware are working with the Detroit Medical Center in the push for more organ donations. Combined, the four companies and the UAW have 183,800 employees and 199,546 retirees. The companies are printing fliers, mounting workplace campaigns and bringing in organizations to promote organ donation to employees

At Compuware's offices in Detroit, Chairman and CEO Peter Karmanos Jr. will urge workers to donate organs in a videotaped message.

Factory employees at the automakers will learn about organ donation in seminars and at other events at work. And, at each place, organ donation advocates will be on hand at events such as blood drives and health fairs.

"We're not trying to force anyone to join the registry, but we want to show them what it's all about," said Penny Deitch, Compuware's director of diversity and community relations.

Fouad Beydoun, the organ donation project's leader, said it's often simple misunderstandings that prevent people from getting on a donor list.

Some people believe their religion prohibits organ donation, when it doesn't. Others believe that checking the organ donor box on the back of their driver's license is enough. In fact, people should register with the state and make their wishes known to loved ones because a driver's license often isn't readable or available, said Beydoun, who's chairman of the medical center's Harper Hospital.

People can donate an organ either while living or after they die. Living donors can choose who receives the organ, while organs donated after death are typically given to the next recipient on Michigan's list.

"It's not a topic that's normally spoken about; people aren't comfortable," said Beydoun, who is also executive director of the International Association of Organ Donation.

Another goal of the project is to track trends in organ donation to see how well the programs work and what approaches are most effective. Results will come out every three years measuring the progress.

Ford's McCall has seen how awareness can change opinions about donations. Few people in her office were familiar with the process of how to become a donor until she was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure, when her kidneys shut down and stopped cleaning toxins in 1993, she said. McCall underwent dialysis for five years before receiving a kidney in 1999. But her body rejected the organ, and she went back on dialysis in 2001.

"In the long term, you can keep more people healthy, which will help health care costs and save lives," McCall said. "People need to hear that."

You can reach Sharon Terlep at (313)223-4686 or sterlep@detnews.com.

Copyright © 2005 The Detroit News.

This article posted May 20, 2005.