Public Education - The Orgamites

A mighty kind movement 

This global education program helps educate young children about organs and the power of donation, first developed in the UK by Roydon Turner and All Good Co.

The Orgamites is a global education program that introduces the subject of organ donation to children in an age-appropriate way. Its animated characters — a team of lifesaving organs — help children and their families learn about and appreciate the roles of organs, as well as learn what organ donation is all about. They also introduce the concepts of kindness and caring for ourselves, our communities, and the planet. 

Awareness events and campaigns help shine a light on those in need, and honour those who have generously donated to save lives. But saving lives now and for generations to come also requires education, starting at an early age. Parents, teachers and healthcare practitioners can all play a role.

Overview

Canadian Blood Services OTDT program has partnered with All Good Co to bring the Orgamites to Canada. The Orgamites made their Canadian debut in Fall 2021 and are finding their way into classrooms, homes and transplant centres across the country.

• Learn more about the Orgamites teacher toolkits and parent resources on our education portal.
• Visit the Canadian Orgamites website,
• Check out the Orgamites on Instagram and Facebook
• Read more about the Orgamites origin story here

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Three pillars of education and conversation

Three sets of resources were developed to fuel discussion in each of the three areas:

• The Mighty Me toolkit is intended to inspire conversations about the organs most needed for transplant
• The Mighty Habits toolkit helps children learn how the health of their organs affects their overall health, and helps make them aware of the concepts of organ donation and caring for others. As Turner puts it, "It's important for children to have a better understanding of how broccoli is going to make their engine work better. Hopefully that will also then make it a little bit easier for parents to empower their children and make them captains of their own health".
• The Mighty Kind toolkit was created to encourage and inspire kids to take better care of one another and the environment, too. It's based on the belief that teaching children about altruistic behaviour, including organ donation, begins with talking about kindness.

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Vision 

To make organ donation the everyday norm. Instead of organ donation being an unspoken, heavy topic to broach amongst families, we aim to facilitate a societal shift in the way people of all ages view organ donation. By empowering more parents, teachers and healthcare professionals to have more conversations with more children, we envisage a society in which organ donation is the accepted norm, thereby increasing the amount of organs donated and increasing the number of subsequent lives saved.  

Mission

Through the use of creativity, educational tools, resources, videos, toys and tech, we equip grown-ups to talk about organ donation with children in an appropriate and empowering way. Our resources cover bigger and broader themes too, because it’s our conviction that organ donation fits into a larger category and mindset, one in which people take better care of their health, each other, and their world through acts of kindness.

Primary goals

1. To raise awareness of the need for more young donors.
2. To increase conversations around organ donation within families.
3. To save lives by reducing the number of children waiting for organs.

Secondary goals

1. To increase children’s knowledge and appreciation of their organs, then inspire and equip them to take good care of their health.
2. To inspire and equip children to take good care of others.
3. To inspire and equip children to take good care of our planet.

If you would like to be a part of the Orgamites in Canada, contact us to collaborate at otdt@blood.ca