Life Goes on

When you donate organs or tissues, you give someone more than restored health and well-being. You give them hope for a better tomorrow. From caregiver to patient, donor to recipient and family to family — the gift of hope touches us all.

Organ and tissue donation is a vital part to the lives of many people annually.   In the United States, approximately 28,000 lives are saved and 1,000,000 lives are improved each year due to organ and tissue donation.   On the other side of these great facts, more than 90,000 children and adults are currently awaiting lifesaving transplants.   Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list.   An average of 18 people die every day due the a lack of available organs for transplant.   These are facts that can easily be changed.   With an increase in donors, many lives will be saved and many more lives will be improved.   The donation of lifesaving organs and tissue involves many people working together to achieve the common goal of saving and improving lives. It begins with our community hospitals.

The first step to being an organ donor is simple. Sign the back of your driver’s license and have two witnesses sign, and you are legal to donate your organs upon death.   In the event of death or imminent death, there will be checks to see if you are able to donate.   A specially trained recovery coordinator visits the hospital to assess if an individual is medically able to donate, and to discuss donation with family members.

Donation gives families a positive option during the most difficult of times.   Families previously educated about organ and tissue donation will be better prepared to make this decision.   The process of donation is thoroughly reviewed with every family considering giving the gift of life.

Once donation is confirmed, it is arranged for extensive tests to obtain information about blood type and genetic make-up for each organ transplanted. Test results enable...