City of Houston Partners With LifeGift in Lifesaving Mission

Houston Mayor Annise Park Issues Statewide Challenge to Encourage Organ and Tissue Donation

HOUSTON, TEXAS (Aug. 13, 2010) -- Houston Mayor Annise Parker today announced that the City of Houston -- an entity of more than 23,000 employees -- will become an advocate for encouraging organ and tissue donation among its workforce.

This is one of the first times that a city entity in Texas has become a Workplace Partner. The Workplace Partnership for Life initiative is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase donor awareness among corporations, hospitals and other entities. As a Workplace Partner, the City of Houston will provide educational resources to its workforce to encourage organ and tissue donation among its employees.

"The City of Houston is home to the largest medical center in the world. We have every reason to be leading the nation in this initiative," said Mayor Annise Parker. "It is my hope as the mayor of the fourth largest city that we can encourage other large cities to follow our examples."

This announcement comes on the heels of National Minority Donor Awareness Day, which falls on Aug. 1. Minority Donor Awareness Day, first recognized by President Bill Clinton in 1996, emphasizes the importance of educating people from multicultural populations on organ and tissue donation.

In Houston, there are more than 2,500 minorities who are waiting for their turn at a second chance of life. A survey commissioned by Donate Life America revealed an increase in the number of minorities registered as organ, eye and tissue donors. However, minorities still account for more than 50 percent of those on the transplant waiting list. Increasing the number of people registered as organ, eye and tissue donors is critical to the more than 108,000 men, women and children waiting for a lifesaving transplant.

"LifeGift applauds the City of Houston for joining us in an effort to save lives through organ and tissue donation," said Janice Whaley, Managing Director of Clinical Operations for LifeGift. "The City's support will help increase the awareness among minorities about the critical shortage of organs for transplant and what they can do to reverse this trend."

While the Glenda P. Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry is gaining momentum and numbers have improved dramatically , less than 10 percent of Texans over the age of 18 are registered. Registering to become an organ, eye and tissue donor is simple. It's free and it takes less than five minutes. There are three ways to register:

Electronically via www.donatelifetexas.org
In person at the Department of Public Safety office (DPS)
Online with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when renewing vehicle registrations.

For more information about LifeGift and the registry, visit www.lifegift.org