Michelle Zeelenberg

PlusLife

PlusLife (Perth Bone & Tissue Bank) is a not-for-profit organisation that retrieves, processes and distributes donated human bone and tissue for transplant purposes. All PlusLife tissue grafts are donated in Australia. PlusLife has two donor programs: patients having hip replacements can donate the ball part of the hip removed during surgery; and similar to organ donation, with the consent of the next of kin, bone, tendons and ligaments can be donated after death. As a registered charity and the only bone bank in Western Australia, PlusLife provides an essential service to the health sector. 75% of PlusLife's grafts are distributed to benefit patients in Western Australian and approximately 25% is sent to interstate locations. Almost 9,000 patients have received a tissue transplant since the bank was established in 1992. Amongst the graft recipients are children and adolescents with spinal deformities, bone tumour patients (generally young people who have avoided amputation of a limb by receiving a graft); and many patients with arthritic joint disease caused by debilitating arthritis and trauma, whose mobility and general wellbeing has been improved by receiving bone grafts from PlusLife. PlusLife also provides graft material for dental and maxillo facial procedures.