The Wait, the Line and a Campaign 4 Life

Waiting in line is tiresome and tedious.  The grocery store, the post office, the bank – wherever you need something and have to wait to get what it is you want.  That line never moves fast enough when you are the one waiting.  I’ve even seen people put down whatever it was they were getting  and leave because they waited in line a little too long; they sigh, roll their eyes, tap their toes and make comments about how they just don’t have the time to stand around.

Well, that’s inconvenient.  But it’s not deadly.  If you are waiting in line for an organ transplant in this country, that kind of waiting has much more serious consequences.  Every day in America, 18 people die while waiting in that line - waiting too long for a life-saving transplant that doesn’t come in time.   

Here are the cold hard facts; the current statistics from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) about the wait, donation and how many people are actually getting to transplant.

Waiting list candidates 119,963 as of today 3:57pm

Transplants January - June 2013 14,103

Donors January - June 2013 6,961

Think about that. You can see with the size of the list, and the transplantation and donor rates, we will never catch up with the need.  And every 10 minutes, someone new is added to the national transplant waiting list. The available supply will never meet the very critical demand at the rate we're going, and the line will just keep getting longer, and so will the wait.  What if you or someone you loved were the ones waiting?   That’s a line you really can’t be in for too long. Maybe you already know what I’m talking about.  The toll is too high.

We need to do everything we can to fix this.  Better awareness, dispelling myths and misinformation, perhaps taking a look at how we view organ donation, and certainly improving the number of living donors stepping forward for those waiting for liver, kidneys or lungs where that can make a difference – all can help.  But we also need to simply improve our national organ donor registry numbers – more organs need to be available for those waiting on the list.

Take a look at the donor rates across the country.  Some regions are doing a good job at organ donation awareness and as much as 80% of the population are signed up to be organ donors.  Other areas need to really do much better.

The problem is particularly bad here in New York State – we have the third lowest donation rate in the country.  And what’s worse, 10,000 New Yorkers are currently on the national wait list.   That is about 10% of the whole list, of everyone on the country.  That explains why New Yorkers wait so long for those lifesaving transplants – we are not doing enough to improve organ donation rates and so more New Yorkers die waiting on the list than in other parts of the country.  We need to do better.  Much better.

If you could do something about that, wouldn’t you?

Well, you can.

Today here in New York, we kick off the Campaign 4 life, a public health initiative, to register donors on the New York State Donate Life organ donor registry, supported by the Alliance for Donation/New York State Donate Life along with Northeast Kidney.  Its designed to make a focused effort on signing up new donors using a person-to-person connection and putting a face on the need for organ donation.  You can become part of the effort by joining with TEAM Northeast and getting out and spreading the word; sign up yourself and then encourage others. And there’s a lot of good info available here to help you.

When asked, 85% of people say organ donation is a good idea, one they agree with and support.  Yet we are still down at a 20% designated donor rate here in NYS?  We need to find those people in the 65% who just haven’t gotten around to signing up as donors even though they think it’s a good idea.

So, please help us.

And here is the most amazing part – making the decision to become an organ donor doesn’t just benefit those waiting on the list.  It’s an opportunity to live on by giving someone else a second chance at life.  I’ve seen people find comfort in that following the loss of a loved one, because of that final act of unselfish generosity. Think about how incredible that is.

So sign up.  Join our effort.  We need people like you.  Make the difference.

With the size of the list and the length of the wait, no one wants to see THIS happen. Help others make a choice that can save lives instead. 

  

Take care and stay well - Kathe