DURING NATIONAL DONATE LIFE MONTH IN APRIL, NASSAU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER AND THE NEW YORK ORGAN DONOR NETWORK URGE NEW YORKERS TO ENROLL IN THE ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR REGISTRY
** Enrollment drive is part of a nationwide effort to increase the number of donor enrollments to 100 million. **
EAST MEADOW, NEW YORK MARCH 20, 2007: Nearly 7,000 people are waiting for organ transplants in the greater New York metropolitan area. Thousands more need eye and tissue transplants. For this reason, Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) and the New York Organ Donor Network are partnering in April during National Donate Life Month to heighten awareness about the acute shortage of donors. The month has been designated by the federal government to raise awareness about the need for organ, eye, tissue, blood and bone marrow donors.
NUMC and the Donor Network are urging individuals to help save lives by enrolling in New York State’s Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. The donor registry is a confidential database maintained by the New York State Department of Health. The collaborative effort to increase donor enrollments is being carried out as part of a national initiative to increase the number of donor enrollments in the nation’s various registries to100 million.
“It is estimated that between 50 and 60 million or 20 percent of Americans are enrolled in various registries nationwide,” said Elaine Berg, New York Organ Donor Network president and CEO. “More than 1.2 million names are entered into New York State’s donor registry. When we consider that New York State has an estimated population of more than 19 million, it is self-evident why we need to increase significantly the number of people registered.”
Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the Nassau Health Care Corporation said: “We are committed to support the Donor Network’s campaign and the national effort to increase the number of organ, eye and tissue donors. If all New Yorkers were to enroll in the Donor Registry, our state will have made a major contribution in terms of meeting the national goal of 100 million people registered. More importantly, we will have reduced the suffering of patients waiting for transplants, which unfortunately we all too often witness at our facility. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the tragic and unnecessary deaths of those patients who can’t find donors in time.”
HOW TO ENROLL IN THE NEW YORK STATE ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR REGISTRY: During National Donate Life Month, and throughout the year, New Yorkers can become organ, eye and tissue donors by enrolling in the Donor Registry by clicking on the registry link on the home page of the New York Organ Donor Network’s Web site: www.donatelifeny.org. Once they have enrolled in the registry, they should inform their next of kin about their decision, so that their decision to donate is honored.