'Ferrymen of life' ease organ donation process for patients' family members
Greater respect
After nearly 13 years as a coordinator, Cao Yanfang, from Zhejiang province, feels that her role is not just to persuade family members, but to help people honor the wishes of a relative who has decided to donate.
"I used to think that this work was difficult, but I later discovered that all jobs that involve changing people's minds are hard. Many people find it difficult to change their mind quickly, so I decided to identify and help those who were willing to make donations," she said.
Cao said rejection is a regular part of the coordinator's job. Her experience as an ICU nurse enables her to face life and death bravely, but she still finds that the hardest part of the job is learning how to forge ahead after repeated rejection.
The job also involves dealing with the pain and despair of family members who have lost a loved one, as well as their mental struggle when deciding whether to agree to a donation, she said.
In 2010, her understanding of the coordinator's job was that she had to persuade the families of potential donors to agree after the loved one's death. Therefore, she took great care to obtain all the relevant information about the potential donors and learned how to discuss donation with their family members.
Her first experience was in 2010, when she met the family of a man who had been pronounced brain-dead after a fall.
Cao had to rush to the hospital in Pujiang, Zhejiang province, from Hangzhou, the provincial capital, and during the two-hour drive she mulled over how to raise the topic of organ donation.
The family was in a quiet room at the hospital, so Cao spoke with the patient's wife, telling her that she was a Red Cross volunteer. The woman immediately understood Cao's mission and told her that she and her mother-in-law would not agree to the donation.
"If we donate his corneas, he might not be able to see his way home," she said, leaving Cao at a loss about how to continue the discussion.
