Have you seen the bumper sticker that says “recycle yourself?” perhaps not – it’s much more common to see the Donate Life license plates or the little red heart on your Colorado Driver’s License that indicates you are a registered organ and tissue donor. April is Donate Life Month – so please read on! If you haven’t signed up yet because you still have questions about it, you can go here to get the facts about organ donation. Keep in mind that you should discuss with your family about the decision so they are clear about your wishes. Why? When you register by signing a donor card (on the Colorado driver’s license it’s indicated with a little heart with a “Y” in it just below your signature), your family members will be clear about your wishes to donate. If you’re a Colorado resident, click here to get information about how to register. The Mayo Clinic has a good article here busting some myths about organ donation, and the Donor Alliance recently released a local study conducted in Denver, Aurora and Pueblo.
A recent New York Times article is about a new policy in Israel that gives registered organ donors priority to receive transplants. Israel’s change in policy was based was based on some unique facts of its religious population, but the cooperation of the religious communities resulted in a highly successful public awareness campaign, which swelled the numbers of registered donors. Signing up for this is easy and you can save lives and enhance quality of life through a donation – signing up has never been easier, and this has increased the rolls of registered donors – but there’s still a long way to go.
There’s an interesting Pittsburgh Gazette article from February here and Donate Life America, the national nonprofit that advocates for people to register as organ and tissue donors has been reaching its goals of adding donors in recent years, but it has set its goal for 2012 to register 20 million new donors. Will you be one of them? Talk about leaving a legacy! This is everyday heroism in action – turning tragic events into opportunities to save others’ lives. Don’t forget to sign up!