The end is in sight!

The end of the semester: Time for the exchange students to go home, for the others to start working, but more importantly, time to finish up our project!

We have worked on this project for hours and hours and tested a lot of so-called “shi**y prototypes”; a landing page, posters, social media channels, this blog, patches and so much more. And I believe we could say that we are proud of ourselves.

The Final Pitching event.

Yesterday, Sydney and Esmee presented the final pitch at the Final Pitching Event. All the teams did great, and it was amazing to watch how the other projects evolved over this semester. After chocolate cake took away a tip of the nerves, it was time for our team to take the stage. Together, we had decided that our pitch should be part of our campaign, which turned this pitch into our last shi**y prototype (at least, that is what we thought). And the pitch went well! So well, that we made it to the top 5! And this means, that we will be doing our pitch on the 23^rd of May at New Factory Open! It also means that we can win 1400 euro, or, how we like to think, 482.75 beers at Mallashovi (I mean, we are students after all)! It also means, that clearly we took the right approach in this campaign. And, we have the chance to convince 350 people to sign up as an organ and tissue donor!

The pitch will be posted on our Facebook channel!

We will be adapting the pitch a little bit for this event, but the concept will remain the same. Please watch our pitch, feel free to be critical and give us comments.

What came as a surprise to us, is that five Remarkable Blog Awards were giving out. And what came as an even bigger surprise, we won a Remarkable Blog Award! Thank you all for your interest in our blog and the support with our project. A shout out to Regea, our project partner, Demola, and Ohad, our facilitator, for providing us with all the tools necessary to let us grow so much during the project. We are very thankful for this.

The project

The next couple of days, we will be working on creating example posters and videos, and we will be writing a toolkit for Regea. All of this will be displayed in a toolkit, which consists of advice for the company, but also prototypes. On the 24^th, this will be presented to the company and hopefully licensed. So stay tuned!

 

 

#askllgl about Organ and Tissue Donation: Tomorrow is Q&A Day!

During our project we were asked a lot of questions on organ and tissue donation in Finland, e.g. how can I become an organ donor or where can I get the card. In collaboration with our project partner Regea we already worked out a catalogue of frequently asked questions and answers – but we are pretty sure there are some more!

This is why we call upon you to take part in our Q&A session tomorrow (Monday) from 11am to 2pm. By using the hashtag #askllgl you can put as many questions as you want to us on our twitter channel @LLGL17 and Facebook page Live Life, Give Life 2017.

Together with Regea we will answer everything you like to know on organ and tissue donation. Moreover, we will add your questions and our answers to our existing catalogue which we will publish after the Q&A Day here at our blog and our social media channels.

We are totally excited about the Q&A Day and looking forward to your questions tomorrow! 🙂

Keep calm and continue testing!

What is the best way to identify the most suitable concept for a communications and marketing campaign? Just try something and see what happens. This is probably the easiest way to be able to know for a fact which is the best approach, what are the best channels and how the measures have to look like to fulfill our task – namely, to raise awareness on organ and tissue donation among young adults in Finland.

It’s testing time!

Since we have put the main emphasis of our later campaign on social media channels we are trying out different Facebook Ads on organ and tissue donation which are directed specifically to our target group. The one with the most clicks might show the best approach to get in touch with our target group. In addition, when users have clicked on the ad to get more information on the topic they also have the possibility to sign up for the organ donation card. The amount of registrations according to the respective Facebook Ad makes clear which approach also leads to taking action. So which Ad do you like the most?

Attractive man jumping into water

Next to our social media activities we have also tested offline activities at university. Therefore, we used the Demola Testing Afternoon where all teams presented their projects at the Tampere University of Technology. At our booth students had the opportunity to get information about organ and tissue donation in Finland as well as the donation card itself and much more: After an hour we have started offering coffee and cookies to see whether this is an incentive to look into the matter of organ and tissue donation and – surprise, surprise, it worked! On top of that we have asked people to take part in our photo challenge on Instagram where they had to post a photo of themselves holding the organ donation card. But: We figured out that this has been a step to far since people first wanted to think about the topic seriously before posting a photo on social media. So for further events we know now: Offer coffee and cookies, answer questions and don’t ask too much from visitors.

Also part of the project: Testing one’s patience

What do you learn when you have to create posters for the testing afternoon but don’t have any knowledge using Photoshop? You have to admit that it can be the greatest tool if you’re able to work with it but your biggest enemy if you’re a clueless novice. Designing the poster for our booth and for announcing the Instagram challenge has been one of the biggest challenges so far but here is what you learn: Even we have a love-hate-relationship to Photoshop now, you can do it if you want it! After hours of trial and error we have created these beautiful posters:

This just has been testing part 1. We are looking forward to tell you about our further testing experiences. To keep up-to-date also follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Live-Life-Give-Life-2017-334445110290831/

 

Jamming again

What a ride it has been. Soon the Demola Project has lasted already three months but what have we been doing and achieving? Read and find out!

Interesting and inspiring events!

After the first Jam we have had another Jam event, a HealthHub and even a Mid-Pitch. The time truly is flying when you are putting your hard work into something valuable.

The second Jam was all about user experience, finding the right kind of meters for the right targets and creating value to your innovation. In addition we each participated in our own little workshops, where we discussed our project with other Demola Spring attendees. Getting a chance to brainstorm also with people outside of your project is incredibly valuable. You are getting opinions and ideas from people that might have totally different kind of view point to our project. Therefore, we would say that the second Jam gave us a lot of new ideas to discuss as a team.

We also had a chance to learn a lot about Demola Spring’s other health tech projects as we participated in the Demola HealthHub. Additionally we had a chance the make interesting discussions together with the experts on this field and even give a pitch about our project for the very first time. Yaiks!

Where are we now?

Brainstorming and more brainstorming. We needed to figure out what were our three focus points to truly affecting the way young adults are seeing organ and tissue donations. Nowadays world is circling around digitalization, lifelong learning and new communication channels. We needed take these account in reaching young adults. Finally we decided to focus on creating a new web page for campaigning, developing social media marketing channels and creating offline marketing possibilities.

So if the answer for reaching the young adults is more marketing and visibility, what actual is the right way to be marketing? Should it be an emotional approach, should it be a statistical one or should it be a fun way? This is the main thing we are trying to figure out at the moment. Lucky for us we were happy enough to gain a new member with very needed skills in designing. Therefore, at the moment we are designing different kind of posters with different approaches.

In addition, we have been designing a possible campaign model, contacting student organizations, creating the new web page and creating new social media sites. So it has been busy, and we still have a full month left to really change the way people are talking and thinking about organ and tissue donations. Therefore, we are still continuing on the road to saving more lives.

So all in all, it truly has been an adventure so far but we have not still reached our destination. There is a lot of work to be done but we are confident that we will more than succeed!

Some information about Regea – what, where, and how?

To get a clear idea about our project, it is important to understand the company we are doing it for, of course. And that is exactly what you are going to read in this blog.

Regea Cell and Tissue Center is a clinical tissue bank located in Tampere. It’s part of the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Tampere. The bank procures, processes and supplies different kinds of tissue transplants for clinical use: bones, tendons, amniotic membranes and corneas. Regea also produces adipose tissue derived stem cell products.

Tissue transplants are used for various illnesses and injuries. The donation procedure starts with an initial screening of the donor. The suitability for tissue donation is based on the potential donor’s medical and social background, and he/she must also be screened for certain infectious diseases.

Next, the procurement is undertaken by Regea’s specialist procurement teams in the hospital or mortuary depending on the tissue in question. The tissue transplants are immediately stored in specific temperature for each tissue type: for example +31°C for cornea or -80°C for bones and tendons.

Bone and tendon transplants don’t need further processing after procurement and they can be stored up to 5 years. Corneal and amniotic membrane transplants undergo a specific process before they can be released for clinical use. Processing of the cornea can take up to 30 days after which it can be preserved for maximum of 5 days before the transplantation surgery.

Processing and storing tissues at the tissue bank ensures that the tissues stay intact and can be taken out when there’s need for a certain tissue in a hospital. This is a difference between tissue and organ transplants, as organ donation must happen immediately whereas tissues can be used within a considerably longer period of time.

Regea makes sure that tissues are distributed to the hospital where they are needed. Regea uses a database to coordinate necessary information, such as the availability of tissues. Also the procurement, testing, processing, storage and allocation of tissues is based on this database. That’s how Regea knows exactly how many tissues to have in stock in order to help as many people as possible.

The Regea team consists of 15 employees that work very hard to help as much people as possible in need. Most of the employees work in the laboratory. During our project, Sari, Tiia and Jukka are helping us with the necessary support and information needed for our Demola project.

Regea is a high quality tissue bank that cooperates with a lot of different hospitals. There is so much knowledge in the bank, and we have been learning so much by working together with them during this Demola project. Thanks to Regea, the quality of many lives have been improved!

The project so far – jams, tendons and Tinder dates

Starting with a Demola project is like a box of chocolate. A box wrapped in duct tape, that is. You know every piece is going to taste so good but it’s such a pain to get the box open.

That being said, I think we have finally found our way through the duct tape and getting started with that Demola chocolate. It has required multiple ”so, what was it again that we’re actually doing here” type of questions, countless meetings, brainstorming, Google documents and one visit to Regea’s laboratory in Kauppi. Although now that I think about, most of these have in fact been pralines too.

So far we have done quite a bit of research about organ donation campaigns and conducted a small survey to screen the current situation in our target group. I can’t wait to get started with the actual concept developing with this good base. We have weekly project team meetings at the New Factory (bonus points for the free coffee). That’s when we think of our strategy, throw in ideas and share information we’ve found. Quite often our facilitator Ohad joins in and brings along his brilliant ideas and the voice of experience.

Sari from Regea telling us more about different transplant processes.

Every second week we meet with Regea’s representants Sari, Tiia and Jukka to discuss where we are going and what we plan to do next. They are very passionate about the importance of organ donations and it’s highly motivating to work with them on the topic.

A few weeks ago we met exceptionally at Regea in Kauppi for a playbook meeting. There we focused on the core ideas of the project by using the business model canvas. The most interesting part of the visit happened after official meeting though, when Sari showed us their laboratory and told about the hands-on work in Regea. We learnt for example that the achilles tendon can be used as a tendon transplant anywhere in the body and that cornea can be donated by up to 83-year old. You certainly learn new things in a Demola project.

Besides these project meetings and the work we do at home, there are also workshops and jams organized by Demola. These events don’t only help with figuring out how to approach the projects in general, but they also provide for inspiration that lasts for days. For example in the last jam event we did some sh*tty prototyping and learnt that innovating is kind of like Tinder – you might be dating some really nice guy but don’t stop looking for alternative options.

So, that’s a glimpse of what we have been doing the past month. Things are starting to get serious soon as we get to test some ideas in action. Stay tuned!

Rule IX – the most important thing to remember at the New Factory.

Organ donation – who, what, why?

Living and giving life sounds heartwarming but what is this all really about?

The point of our project is to come up with new ideas on how to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation. We’re working together with the Finnish tissue bank and cell center Regea. We have a lot of brainstorming, demo developing and testing ahead of us but before we get there, let’s take a look at organ donations.

Who can be a donor?

Everyone can sign up to be a potential donor. According to the law, organs and tissues of a deceased person may be removed and donated if he/she hasn’t opposed before death. Doctors estimate whether the person is suitable to be a donor, and there is no set age limit for the donation. Some tissues and for example kidney can be donated alive too.

Why should I sign up to be a donor if it is automatic anyway?

Even though everyone can be a donor, doctors still have to make sure that the deceased hasn’t refused donating. Therefore the law hasn’t in fact improved the organ donation situation.

Stating your will explicitly makes the situation much easier for the family and fastens the donation process crucially. That’s why it is very important to make your consent clear.

What will be donated?

There are two types of donations. Organs like kidney, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas and small intestine usually come from braindead people. In general every organ donor can also donate tissues. Tissue donations include eg. cornea, bones, tendons and cartilage, and donors can be deceased or in some cases alive – for example bone tissue can be donated during a hip surgery.

What about the receivers?

Organ donations save lives. Receivers suffer from serious heart, kidney, liver, lung or intestine diseases, where organ transfer is the best and sometimes the only possible treatment. There were 399 organ transfers conducted last year, and in general more than 90 percent of organ transfers are successful.

Tissue transplants are used to treat diseases and injuries. These cases aren’t usually life-threatening, but tissue transfer speeds up the recovery process and improves the quality of life. For example a cornea transplant can restore receiver’s eyesight and heart valves are used to cure different kinds of valvular heart diseases.

There is a continuous shortage on organs, and every year 5-10 percent of the people waiting for a transplant die because a suitable organ wasn’t received in time.

So, what should I do?

You can save lives by signing the organ donation card, downloading the organ donation mobile app or even just saying your consent out loud to your family. It’s that simple.

Our driving force in Live Life, Give Life project is to make a change that matters. Join us on the road by spreading the word, commenting and throwing in ideas here or just following our project. And most importantly, sign the card and let your closest ones know!

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References:

http://www.kyllaelinluovutukselle.fi

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2001/20010101

http://www.hus.fi/sairaanhoito/sairaanhoitopalvelut/elinsiirrot/sivut/default.aspx?redirected=1

Part 1: Hello!

Welcome to our blog! Here are introductions of our team members so you can get to know us better.

Sydney Loerch

I am Sydney, an exchange student from Germany studying Strategical Communication in the second year of Master’s Degree level.

In the context of the Live Life, Give Life! Project, I work in the function of a PR consultant which includes several tasks like conceptual development of communication measures, editorial writing and project management. The latter is also one of the reasons for being the project manager in the Live Life, Give Life! Team. In this project, I see the chance to develop my skills in an NGO environment by working for a good cause. On top of that, the most interesting and also significant aspect of taking part in this project for me is to really have an impact on people’s lives and the chance to save as many lives as possible.

Next to studying and the project I love to travel all around the world, especially to my favorite spot Australia. Moreover, I am totally interested in soccer, since I am born in Dortmund and because of that a passionate fan of the club Borussia Dortmund. The rest of my free time I spend on cooking delicious food (which brings a great added value to my life), doing sports and attending concerts.

If I were a superhero, I would like to be Batman, since unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers but it still able to achieve his goals just by his genius intellect, physical prowess, detective skills, science and technology and indomitable will. Seems like being a superhero is not as far away as one might think. 😉

Amanda Vonk

My name is Amanda Vonk but most of my friends just call me Manda. I’m a 5th year bio-engineering and industrial management student from Tampere University of Technology (TUT) so almost at the edge of graduation.

I have always been extremely passionate about organizational work and so I have done it along with my studies the whole time I have studied at TUT. Last year I was a member of my university’s student union board responsible of international affairs and corporate relations. Therefore, during last year I got to know a lot of important people in the student union movement. My main role in the project is to coordinate the offline marketing, the marketing channels and manage the relations to possible sponsor companies. Additionally being the only engineer in the group I think I’m the one who eventually ends up doing process charts basically about everything. Still, there can never be too many process charts!

I got interested in the project mainly because with this you can really actually affect to something really big and change and safe actual lifes for ever. For me as a bioengineering student Regea is a familiar company but I really did not know that they were part of the organ donation circle. Therefore, one of the reasons for me to be in this project is to really get other people acknowledge how important issue we are talking about. We should lift the organ donation to the 21st century and let it be a thing that every one of us recognizes.

Otherwise I am a girl who is half Dutch and half Finnish and who should spend more time in her other home country than she does at the moment. Problem is that I love to travel to new places and discover new things so the Netherlands is not always in the top of my list of places to travel. Additionally I spend my time by doing, as already said, organizational work, I love to snowboard, but do not have enough time for it and have played piano since I was 6 years old. So all it needs to keep me happy is a passport, a snowboard and a piano! Talking about heavy luggage…

If I was a superhero my power would definitely be heightened senses. Then I would finally have a good enough hearing to tune my piano myself. 8)

Meeri Pekkola

I’m our team’s representative in human sciences as this is my sixth year in German studies at the University of Tampere – although the reason I got in to this project had probably more to do with my minors communication and marketing than being able to speak German. In our project I’m focusing on media and taking care of this blog with Emma and Amanda.

Ironically, I didn’t have the organ donor card when starting with this project because I thought you didn’t need one nowadays. Wrong! Hearing about the Live Life, Give Life project, I learned that the issue is as topical as ever and I wanted to do my share in spreading the information. Of course it doesn’t hurt getting some hands-on working experience for the future at the same time.

When I’m not studying or working for the project, I’m most likely daydreaming about travelling around Europe or trying to figure out techniques in Brazilian jiu jitsu. If I were a superhero, I’d be Batman, because you can’t any cooler than him.

 

Emma Hanhiniemi

I’m Emma Hanhiniemi and I’m a third-year-student at University of Tampere. I major in Computer Science, in Human-Technology Interaction, to be exact. As you might guess I’m responsible for the tech part of this project – everything that it includes.

I’ve had an organ donor card since I was in junior high (and it probably wasn’t even valid back then) and having one has been self-evident for me ever since I learned about it. So, when I was scrolling through the Demola projects for this spring Live Life, Give Life! was the only project that I genuinely felt passionate about. I’m really excited to see what we can create!

I have a tendency to become excited about different things easily, but my biggest passions in life are probably travelling and food. Preferably at the same time. I also love playing video games and learning foreign languages – so far I can speak 6 different languages and I’m working on my 7th.

If I was a superhero I’d want my superpower to be able to download different skills to my brain from the internet – like in Matrix! There are so many things I’d love to learn and so little time. 😀

Esmee Segond von Banchet

My name is Esmee Segond von Banchet, and I am honored to say that I am also part of the Live Life Give Life team. I am contributing to the media and communications side of this project. I am an third International Business student from The Netherlands, and am currently enjoying my Erasmus in Tampere for one semester. My hobbies are hiking, running, going to the gym and travelling.

Organ donation has always played a major part in my life; my mother’s first husband gave away all of his organs, and in primary school, there was a student that needed an organ. Sadly, there was no organ for him. Since my 16th, I have been an organ donor. Being an organ donor is of great importance for me, and I hope that with this project, I can make more people aware about the topic and the importance.