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Organ and Tissue Donation
April is Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month in the United States. In my local health-care facility, we are celebrating this week with programs intended to raise awareness among our staff. I wanted to take a moment, though, to share the donation message here on the blog today.Organ and Tissue Donation is an imperative in our society today. Thousands of people are on the waiting list for hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, skin, cornea, valves, bone, and other donations that they need to either improve the quality of their lives or to simply survive.
Each of us can make a difference by signing up to be an organ or tissue donor, and by making your choice known to your family and friends. In many states, you can make your wishes known -as I did - by designating your donation decision on your driver's license. You can also register on the Internet with the donation registry for your home state. A listing of these registries can be found at http://www.organdonor.gov/
For those outside the United States, consult your local health department or medical facility for full information on how to become an organ donor.
Please join me in making a commitment to Organ and Tissue Donation in this month, and share in putting out the message about the urgency of donation!
1 comments:
Over half of the 98,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. Over 6,000 of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a result.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
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