Register as a Donor
Turning the Texas Organ and Tissue Donor Registry Around by State Representative Ellen Cohen and State Senator Mario Gallegos
Every day, 18 people die due to a lack of organ donors and that number will continue to increase.
Aug. 1 is National Minority Donor Awareness Day -- a nationwide observance to educate minorities about the urgent need for donation and transplantation within the multicultural community. In Houston alone, 2,502 minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians) are waiting for a lifesaving transplant.
The lack of organs available for transplantation is a local, state and national health crisis. Across the country, more than 108,000 people are waiting for their second chance at life and the number continues to grow. Every 11 minutes another name is added to the transplant waiting list. The next name on the list could be yours or someone you love.
In 2006, the Glenda P. Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry was created to encourage Texans to officially register as organ and tissue donors. This electronic database of all Texas residents who wish to donate their organs and tissues upon their deaths is confidential. A first-person, donor directive, the registry is legally-binding, which means a person's wishes to donate are acted upon, allieviating a diffcult decision for that person's family to make.
All states have some form of electronic registry; however, other states are lightning years ahead of Texas. The saying goes that "everything is bigger in Texas," but that tis sadly not the case with the registry. Texas ranks at the bottom of the list of all states with 6 percent of the adult population over the age of 18 registered. States such as Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Oregon outrank Texas with more than 70 percent of the population registered.
Houstonians can do something to turn this trend around. Registering electronically eliminates one of the barriers to helping those waiting on a second chance. In the time it takes to send a text or an email, lives can be saved. One individual donor has the potential to save and/or enhance the lives of 80 people through the gift of organ and tissue donation.
Houstonians are known for having open hearts and open minds. Let's take charge of this emergent state of affairs and provide an example for the rest of the Lone Star State to follow.
To register as an organ and tissue donor and for more information, visit www.donatelifetexas.org. It is free and takes less than five minutes.
