Tenaya Wallace and Tom Mone: Television can save your life
电视可以挽救你的生命
By Tenaya Wallace and Tom Mone
CAN a single TV show actually save lives? "Three Rivers," a CBS prime-time series on donation and transplantation, did. Sadly, that remarkable fact was not enough to save itself.
As the donation and transplantation community mourns the premature shelving of "Three Rivers," we stand in awe of its achievements. A month ago, a San Antonio, Texas, family donated the corneas of a loved one who had passed away. They said yes because they wanted their family member to help others, just like on "Three Rivers."
Two weeks later, a family on the East Coast donated the organs of their teenage daughter because she had talked to them about donation after watching "Three Rivers" on a Sunday night.
一个电视节目能否实际上拯救生命? “三河”,一哥伦比亚广播公司黄金时间的关于捐献和移植的电视剧做到了。可悲的是,这一显着的事实还是不够让它自己拯救自己。
当捐献和移植各界悼念电视台过早搁置“三河”的时候,我们来尊重一下它取得的成就。一个月前,圣安东尼奥,德克萨斯州,一个家庭捐献了去世的亲人的眼角膜。他们同意捐献,是因为他们想如同“三河”剧情提及的一样,让他们的家庭成员帮助别人。
两个星期后,一个在东海岸的家庭捐赠了他们十几岁的女儿的器官,因为女儿在周日晚上看过“三河”之后告诉家人,要捐赠自己的器官。
On Thanksgiving weekend, a daughter in Louisiana gave consent for her mother to save three lives. She too was a fan of "Three Rivers," and the coordinator was impressed by how much the family knew about the donation process from watching the show.
For years, the organ and tissue donation community held its breath every time donation was used as a television storyline. Inaccurate and horrific scenarios about black markets and stolen organs made us initiate letter-writing campaigns; even worse, research showed it kept viewers from signing up to be donors.
Finally, one show got it right. "Three Rivers" viewers got something extra with their nightly fare of drama: They had a chance to learn the truth about donation and were challenged to talk about a topic families rarely wish to discuss - death and their wishes at end of life.
在感恩节周末,在路易斯安那州的女儿同意用她的母亲来挽救3个生命。她也是一个“三河”迷,而捐赠协调员非常意外这个家庭通过看电视剧对捐赠过程了解得这么详细。
多年来,每一次捐赠被用于电视的故事情节的时候器官和组织捐赠社会各界都非常紧张。关于黑市和器官被盗的不准确的和可怕的描述,使人们不断写信投诉,更糟糕的是,研究表明,它甚至阻止了观众签捐献协议。
最后,一个非常精确的电视剧出现了。 “三河”观众得到了戏剧夜间票价额外的东西:他们有机会了解有关捐赠的真谛,并启齿谈一谈一个家庭并不想讨论的问题-死亡和生命结束时他们的意愿。
The night that "Three Rivers" premiered, 9.2 million people saw what could essentially be called a 42-minute PSA on organ donation. There are not many public education campaigns that can reach 9.2 million people in a single hour.
From the outset, producer Carol Barbee and her writers reached out to donation and transplant professionals to ensure accuracy in each story and to find the stories that reminded us that death touches us all, that precious legacies can be left by anyone, and that people can gain life through a tremendous gift. Alex O'Loughlin, the show's star, became a Donate Life Ambassador and wore the Donate Life pin and wristband proudly each episode. This was television taking the high road.
晚上,在“三河”首映,920万人看到了本质上可以称为42分钟的器官捐赠标致。不会有太多的公共教育运动,可以达到一个小时920万人。
从一开始,制片人Carol Barbee和她的作家就接触了捐赠和移植专家,以确保在每个故事的准确性,并寻找故事提醒我们死亡触及到我们所有人,这珍贵的遗产可以被任何人留下,人们可以通过这绝妙的礼物获得生命。Alex O'Loughlin,这一节目的明星,成为捐赠生活大使,每一集都自豪地带着捐赠生活别针和腕带。这就是电视占有的高速路优势。
Unfortunately, the high road doesn't immediately translate into high ratings and the advertising revenue on which television depends. At a time when networks are casting about for new ways to combat declining audiences, quick decisions to shelve compelling shows without allowing them to mature and develop an audience may be a part of their problem, not their solution.
In the world of organ donation, saving lives comes first, and "Three Rivers" helped to do just that. We can only hope that whatever new form "Three Rivers" takes on, even in a midnight rerun, it will keep inspiring the gift of life.
Tenaya Wallace is the campaign director for Donate Life Hollywood, a national campaign to promote the accurate portrayal of donation in TV and film. Tom Mone is the CEO of OneLegacy, the organ recovery agency serving the greater Los Angeles Area.
不幸的是,高速路不会立即转化为高收视率和电视依赖的广告收入。正当电视台打造有关的新途径,来弥补下降的观众时,迅速作出搁置的决定,不让剧集成熟和发展观众可能是他们的问题的一部分,而不是他们正确的解决方案。
在世界器官捐赠,挽救生命为先,“三河”,正是有助于做到这一点。我们只能希望无论“三河”采取任何的新形式复出,即使在午夜重新运行,它也会不断激发出生命的礼物。
本文作者Tenaya Wallace是Donate Life Hollywood运动的负责人,这是一项全国运动,以促进在电视和电影准确地描述捐赠。Tom Mone,是OneLegacy首席执行官,大洛杉矶地区的一个器官康复机构。