"Talk it Up," a project aimed at educating middle- and high-school students and their families about the importance of organ and tissue donation, will begin this spring, funded by a three-year, $534,000 grant to UB and Upstate New York Transplant Services (UNYTS) from the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

This most recent award brings the total the two agencies have received for education in organ donation to nearly $1.3 million. UB and UNYTS received a $783,000 grant in September 1999 from the same agency to increase awareness of organ donation among African-American, Hispanic and Native-American populations.

The new project will take this message into the schools, where a component on organ donation will be presented in health-education courses in 30 middle schools and high schools in the region. The project will begin with schools in Erie County and eventually expand to all eight Western New York counties.

The "Talk it Up" program encourages students to discuss the issue with their families in hopes they will arrive at an understanding of each family member's attitude about organ donation.

"Two of the major factors attributing to the low donation rate are lack of awareness of the critical need and lack of prior family discussion about the issue," said Judith Tamburlin, co-principal investigator on the project.

Tamburlin is a research assistant professor in the departments of Biotechnical and Clinical Laboratory Sciences, and Anatomy and Cell Biology. Mark Simon, chief executive officer of UNYTS, also is co-principal investigator.

"In 1999, UNYTS conducted a thorough study of attitudes toward organ and tissue donation in the community," Simon said. "Our results revealed that almost 69 percent of the respondents are 'somewhat' or 'very' likely to donate their organs. However, nearly 56 percent of the same respondents had not told family members or loved ones about their feelings.

"The largest obstacle the transplant community faces is educating families to talk about donation with their loved ones, and to inform them that they are talking about giving life, not about death," Simon noted.

The program will provide an opportunity for professionally trained staff from UNYTS to educate students about the importance of organ and tissue donation, how donation works and how to discuss the issue with their family members and loved ones.

Tamburlin stressed that family members give final consent for organ donation, and that while signing a donor card is an important step, it isn't enough to guarantee donation. "The failure of family members to talk with one another about end-of-life issues is a significant barrier to organ donation," she said. "We are confident this project will help overcome that barrier."

Sanna Thompson and Deborah Waldrop, both assistant professors in the School of Social Work, also will be involved in the project.

Meanwhile, UB medical students have formed an Organ Donation Special Interest Group and have received $2,000 in grants from Sub Board I, the student-owned and operated campus service organization, to carry out campus- and community-education programs on organ donation.

UNYTS data show that more than 70,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant, including at least 300 Western New Yorkers.