Years ago . . .
Long before the subject of heart (and other organ) transplant was a common part of so many now TV shows storylines, it was a big happening when NYPD Blues had a heart transplant plot in their weekly show.  Gathering as many transplant patients (and donor family members) as we could, we hosted a showing of that program at the OPO offices, inviting local news media (especially the TV news reporters) to come and interview members of our audience as we reacted between commercial breaks to that show.  It proved a success with at least one channel posting their broadcast truck (with satellite antenna high in the air) right outside the OPO's offices where they took patients out to conduct live interviews that appeared on the 11 o'clock news immediately after NYPD Blues.  Needless to say we also had a lot of fun that evening, both from the social event as well as sharing our reactions to the show itself.

Just in case . . .
You might not be tuned into the "Three Rivers" show yet, so let us explain briefly.  CBS TV is launching a new Fall network TV series that features a transplant hospital  (loosely based on Pittsburgh's famous UPMC, but seems to be ultramodern hospital setting - see photo above) and weekly stories that focus on the patients, donors and surgeons whose lives come together in tense and creative ways but supposedly based on real life actual events, however loosely.  Donate Life Hollywood has been working with show producers to help keep that creatively at least closely realistic, always a challenge in these days of exciting entertainment drama.  The show premiers on Sunday evening, October 4th at 9pm (EDT) and with that comes an opportunity for all of us, but TRIO Philadelphia can serve as one example of how you might use that opportunity in your own area to help promote our cause of organ donor awareness.
(to get some behind the scenes insight into the program, click on this link ---> "Three Rivers" Fall Preview)
(and for more previews on YouTube click here ---> YouTube Three Rivers Preview)

The opportunity . . .
The TRIO Philadelphia Chapter reached out to our local OPO, the Gift of Life Donor Program, through their Community Relations department (where we have a long standing excellent relationship) and offered to provide an audience on that premier night who would come and watch the show on their big screen projection education center if they would use their news media contacts to get local news coverage as we had done those many years ago.  Surely CBS at least would jump at such an opportunity to provide news coverage of our patient reactions for their 11pm Nightly News show.  We of course, are not looking to promote the show (having not seen it yet, we have no way of knowing what it will be like), but rather to take advantage of it to raise awareness of the need for organ donation and the success of transplantation.  Sounds like a good partnership, yes?

Now don't think you have to have a big event to accomplish the same effect.  If you don't have a local OPO to work with, how about your local transplant center, or keep it really simple and just host a party at someone's house and invite the news media to come by as described above.  We don't limit our attendees just to TRIO members, everyone is welcome, thus both increasing the size of the event and exposing other potential members to the TRIO chapter in this fun undertaking.

Donate Life Hollywood is pushing all its members (i.e., especially the OPO's) to do something to capture this opportunity, so you may just be their easy answer by reaching out and offering to partner this way, offering a ready made audience using your own chapter and network of families that some OPO's may not have easy access to and thus would welcome the support you offer.

Be sure to take some  pictures of your local event and submit them here to our web site where they can be posted to share with chapters and members around the country after the show premiers on Oct. 4th  Also, be sure to post your comments and reviews of the show on our TRIO Bulletin Board.  Hopefully this will be a good show that earns a long run on CBS, and helps us raise the public awareness of the need for donors.  Be prepared to share your views with family, friends and work colleagues as I'm sure they will be watching and then asking you for your opinions, seeing you as the "experts" in the subject based on your life experience.

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Update: TRIO Philadelphia Three Rivers premier event a BIG success   

TRIO Philadelphia chapter had a couple dozen recipients and donor families viewing the Three Rivers premier projected on the big screen at Gift of Life Donor program (OPO) office Sunday (Oct 4th) evening in Philadelphia, working with our local CBS affiliate to get coverage and they did a great job with the 11 o'clock news story (click here to see that CBS news story).  The event was hosted in partnership with the Gift of Life Donor Program (who handled the media) and everyone had a great time.  Here are some on-line photos taken by Susan Pincus (TRIO Board member and Philadelphia chapter phtographer): http://www.kodakgallery.com/susanpincus/donate/3_rivers_premier

 

TRIO Philadelphia provided "TV snacks" and gave out the CBS Three Rivers green bracelets, challenging each attendee to go out and find people in their network to engage in discussion of the show with some open ended questions that the audience developed to help with that, using the green ribbons to hand to people in their network to get them to watch next week's show.

 

Overall our audience really liked the show but on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (highest) they gave it about a 7 or 8 (editor's note: personally, I rated it a 10 but I was the only one to give that high a mark to it).

 

Everyone went home both to watch the nightly news and to fill out Donate Life's on-line survey (which you too can do by linking to http://www.donatelifehollywood.org/ after watching the show).

And if you missed any show . . .
Once they've aired, CBS is offering full show episodes for on-line viewing at: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/three_rivers/

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Breaking News
09.21.09 - 11:25 AM
CBS BUMPS NEW "THREE RIVERS" PILOT, SECOND EPISODE TO AIR FIRST

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- CBS is giving "Three Rivers" a new pilot - again.

Scheduling updates released by the network this morning indicate the show's second episode ("Place of Life") will now serve as its premiere on Sunday, October 4 at 9:00/8:00c. "Tick-Tock," originally set for October 4, will instead air the following week.

Here's how the Eye details the respective installments:

"Place of Life": After suffering a heart-attack, Dr. Andy Yablonski (Alex O'Loughlin) tells a young pregnant woman that in order to save her and her unborn child she must get a heart transplant. However, unexpected complications with the donor's family place the operation in jeopardy, on THREE RIVERS, premiering Sunday, Oct. 4 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"Tick-Tock": Andy and the team try to save an 18-year-old college student in need of a double lung transplant but run into a road block that might not allow her to be eligible for a new set of lungs, on THREE RIVERS, Sunday, Oct. 11 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Both episodes were filmed after the original pilot was scrapped to accommodate the addition of Alfre Woodard (replacing the Julia Ormond and Joaquim de Almeida characters) as well as relocating production to Los Angeles.

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