Have you ever thought about organ donation or do you have questions about the subject? Then you've come to the right place!

We are the Aufklärung Organspende Local Group Bochum, a working group of medical students who are members of the Federal Association of Medical Students in Germany (BVMD). We are currently 18 students at the Ruhr University in Bochum and Minden who volunteer to provide neutral information about organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Through our work, we want to ensure that more people get to grips with the subject so that they can then make an informed decision on their own - whether for or against - and record this on an organ donor card.

We have set up various projects to achieve this goal:

• Elective subject "Organ donation and transplantation" at the Ruhr University Bochum
  We have been organizing an elective course for medical students in the preclinical and clinical stages of their studies for several semesters now. We try to provide as comprehensive a look as possible behind the scenes of organ donation. This is done by our various motivated lecturers, including those from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gewebespende, the Deutsche Stiftung Organtransplantation, transplant doctors, as well as organ transport drivers and transplant recipients. Students have the opportunity to ask questions at any time and gain an insight into the process of a transplant and organ procurement.

• School visits
  According to the Transplantation Act, people who have reached the age of 16 are allowed to declare their willingness to donate organs and tissue themselves; people who have reached the age of 14 are allowed to object to organ donation. We therefore offer school visits for pupils from secondary school onwards, as well as pupils at vocational schools or professional colleagues, in which we offer a brief insight into the topic so that this sensitive issue is brought into focus and a reflected decision can be made.

• Public relations
  Whether at university or out and about in the city - we try to reach as many people as possible in various ways. On the one hand, we have our social media account (Instagram: aufklaerungorganspende_bochum), where we regularly provide information about our campaigns as well as facts about the topic. We also carry out a number of campaigns in the Bochum and Minden area, such as a "clothesline campaign" in which we hang up organ donation cards and information material in public places for everyone to see. We have also been taking part in the organ donation run for years to raise awareness of the issue.

• Lectures
  With the help of external lecturers, we are able to organize public lectures during the semester and thus receive and share information on various disciplines in the field of organ donation and transplantation. Lectures that have already taken place have dealt with topics such as brain death, liver transplantation in children and tissue donation.

Thanks to our many motivated members, we have been able to build up a number of projects over the years that have become established over time and have enabled us to take a big step forward in our educational work. We are therefore all the more pleased that we have been able to bring the traveling exhibition of Netzwerk Organspende NRW e.V. to the Ruhr University as a new "major project" and have found an enthusiastic organizer through our cooperation with the university library.

Local group management:

• Location Bochum: Jonas Frai, Arlinda Belegu
• Location Minden: Paul Schneider

Image: © Aufklärung Organspende Lokalgruppe Bochum