August 1 Marks National Minority Awareness Day

Nationwide observance educates multicultural populations about donation and how to designate their decision to donate life

July 19, 2011 – National Minority Donor Awareness Day (NMDAD) is celebrated annually on Aug. 1 and is a nationwide observance to educate minorities about the urgent need for donation and transplantation within the multicultural community.This is the 15th NMDAD. President Bill Clinton first recognized the designation in 1996.

According to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), approximately 55 percent of those on the United States waiting list are minorities. In 2010, organ transplants were performed on 11,499 minority patients; while there were only 2,652 minority deceased donors.

NMDAD is also a day to educate minority populations on how they can designate their decision to donate life by becoming registered organ, eye and tissue donors.

Many of the conditions leading to the need for transplant – such as diabetes and hypertension – are more prevelant among minority populations. Of the nearly 11,000 Texans on the waiting list, 2,253 are African-American; 4,802 are Hispanic; and 284 are Asian-Americans. A large majority of these patients are awaiting kidney transplants.

“One organ donor has the ability to save up to eight lives,” said Sam Holtzman, president and CEO of LifeGift, the local organ procurement organization (OPO) that recovers organs and tissues for people needing transplants in Southeast, North and West Texas. “Knowing that you have the power to give someone else a chance to live a healthy productive life is the greatest gift of all.”

In addition to the lack of awareness, there are several commonly held beliefs about organ donation among minorities. These myths include:

MYTH: If I’m in an accident and the hosptial knows that I want to be an organ and tissue donor, the doctors will not try as hard to save my life.

TRUTH: Organ and tissue recovery takes place only after all efforts to save your life have been exhausted and death has been legally declared. The medical team treating you is completely separate from the transplant team. The OPO notifies the transplant team following consent to donation.

MYTH: Donation will mutilate my body.

TRUTH: The truth is that donated organs and tissues are removed surgically, in a routine operation similar to open-heart surgery. Donation does not prevent an open-casket funeral or viewing.

MYTH: “I don’t need to tell my family that I want to be an organ and tissue donor because I have it written in my will.”

TRUTH: The truth is that by the time your will is read, it will be too late to recover your organs and tissues. You can make the decision today by becoming a registered organ, eye and tissue donor. There are three ways to make your wishes known:

1. At any Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) office when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license/ID.

2. Via the Donate Life Texas website: www.donatelifetexas.org

3. When renewing your vehicle registration online through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

For more information on organ, eye and tissue donation, visit www.lifegift.org.

About LifeGift

LifeGift is a not-for-profit organ procurement organization dedicated to recovering organs and tissue for individuals needing transplants in 109 Texas counties in North Texas, Southeast Texas and West Texas. For more information, go to www.lifegift.org or 1-800-633-6562.

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