Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the national waiting list for a life-saving organ transplant.
April is National Donate Life Month (NDLM) and organ donation is just as important now as it was when NDLM was established in 2003. There are about 115,000 people in America on the waiting list for organ transplants; 2,500 of these people are from West Virginia and western Pennsylvania alone. Unfortunately, there are more people on the national waiting list than there are registered donors.
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If you support organ donation and just haven’t thought about or remembered to register, it’s actually super easy: all 50 states allow you to register at the DMV. You can also register online here; just go to the drop-down menu and select your state and fill out the boxes.
For questions that are geared towards the registration process and why you should register, Donate Life America provides a lot of information that should be able to help you out. If you’re more curious about the actual donation process, the following organizations’ websites are very informative:
CORE works closely with donor families and designated healthcare professionals to deliver the gift of hope by coordinating the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. The company also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs, tissues and corneas. With integrity and compassion, their goal is to bridge the gap between donor families, health care providers and transplant recipients so that they may forever transform lives.
Gift of Life coordinates the recovery of organs and tissues for transplant. This complex process involves collaborating with highly skilled medical professionals at many different levels.
There are many non-profit organizations around the country who all share one common goal: to save lives. With this being said, it really doesn’t matter what company you go to when needing to talk about organ donation; they all will help you in any way they can.
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As a part of NDLM, WVU’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) will be hosting a tabling event on April 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to promote organ and tissue donation, and to encourage students to become registered donors if they aren’t already. The theme of the event will be “Saying yes to giving more birthdays,” and there will be various games and activities through the day. This event will be held in the Mountainlair (the student union located on the downtown campus) in front of Hatfields.
WVU Medicine is also celebrating Donate Life Month, and you can read about it in more detail here. LifeNet Health, a federally designated organ procurement organization, is partnering with WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center and Jefferson Medical Center during the month of April to encourage individuals to consider registering as an organ, eye and tissue donor.