Nevada County Leads The State With Highest Percentage Of Residents Signed Up On The Donate Life California Organ And Tissue Donor Registry Thousands Saved and Healed by Registered Organ and Tissue Donors Published on Jan 27, 2010 - 2:32:17 PM
By: Katherine Doolittle Community Outreach Manager, Golden State Donor Services
Left to Right:
Sharon Mecartea, Pat Forsberg, DMV Manager Kim Nunez, Debbie Vintere, Sylvia Miller, Amy Malik, Joyce Smethers, Katherine Doolittle. Image courtesy Katherine Doolittle
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 27, 2010 – As Donate Life California and the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced the state has reached the highest enrollment of a donor registry in the US with six million registrants, Nevada County learned it is a leader in California with the highest percentage (33%* vs. the county average of 26%) of its population signing up on the Registry.
Locals in Nevada County celebrated the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry's milestone and their own success today at the Grass Valley Department of Motor Vehicles. On hand to mark the occasion with a special banner, were Donate Life Ambassador and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Director Patricia Forsberg (Auburn resident) along with Community Outreach Manager on behalf of the Registry, Katherine Doolittle (Nevada City resident) .
Forsberg, a donor mother, says she understands well the power of the gift of life in the healing process. "Being a critical care nurse for more than 30 years, and actually having worked in transplant hospital units, I already knew donation saved lives. My son, Dustin Fox, was just 20 years old and a student at Cuesta College, when I got the call about his accident. I gave permission for donation without hesitation, and my son saved five lives. It has helped me to know something good came from this tragedy."
Doolittle knows the other side; the father of her two sons is alive today because of a double organ transplant. One son is Kyle Riordan, a sophomore at Nevada Union High School. Riordan shares "It's a miracle that my dad is alive today, able to participate in my life. We will never forget the unselfish act of the donor and donor's family that saved my dad's life. "
His mother, Doolittle adds "I have the honor to work with about 200 Donate Life Ambassadors who share many of the selfless qualities of Pat. They are each committed to bringing awareness to the public about the miracle of donation and the Registry. To live in this community which embraces full-heartedly the principles of the gift of life through organ and tissue donation makes my family and me so proud. But, then living here, I am not surprised at all that our percent of signups is leading the state!"
Grass Valley DMV Manager Kim Nunez shared in the excitement with her staff as they learned their office is a leader in signing up the highest percentage of clients on the Registry. "Our staff is firmly committed to this program, as well as to learning the facts so we can help dispel the many myths that abound about becoming a donor. It's an honor for us to play a part of saving lives. "
"Each of us has the power to save up to eight lives as an organ donor and heal up to 50 others as a tissue donor. I strongly encourage every Californian to sign up with the registry," said Doolittle. "We encourage Californians to check ‘Yes' to be a donor every time they renew their license or you can sign up by visiting the website: www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org.
Since the Donate Life California Registry was introduced in April 2005, more than 900 lives have been saved in our state through organ donation and up to 30,000 more have been healed through tissue donation from donors who had signed up on the registry.
Donate Life California is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ and tissue donor registry which records the decision to donate in a secure, confidential database that is searched by authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. Approximately 15 percent of organ and tissue donors recovered statewide are now authorized by a document of gift through the Donate Life California Registry.
"The registry's core promise – to save lives by ensuring individuals' wishes to donate are honored – is accomplishing its life-saving mission," said Miryam Mora Barajas, Executive Director of Donate Life California.
As of January 11, more than 16 percent of the state's residents have registered as organ and/or tissue donors, joining the more than 87 million Americans who have registered nationwide. The Donate Life California Registry continues to grow rapidly, adding 30,000 donors each week through the DMV's driver license and ID card application and renewal process, which accounts for 98 percent of registrations. This pace of growth is projected to continue through July 2011, when the registry completes its first five-year DMV renewal cycle.
"We know that the generosity of Californians knows no bounds, and over the next 18 months, the DMV will continue to assist customers as they register as donors for the first time," said DMV Director George Valverde. "Our future goal is for California to register half of its licensed drivers as donors."
The registry's future growth faces obstacles, the most immediate being that many Californians mistakenly believe they are registered as donors if they have an outdated donor sticker on their license. The only way to register and ensure one's wishes to donate are honored is by signing up through the Donate Life California website or by checking ‘Yes' on the DMV application form.
While Californians are still growing accustomed to the idea of registering as a donor, it is notable that in 2008, in organ donation cases where the potential donor is not registered, 68 percent of families presented with the opportunity to donate chose to save lives through donation.
Donate Life California is a nonprofit, state-authorized organ and tissue donor registry, administered by California's four nonprofit, federally designated organ recovery organizations, each responsible for facilitating the donation process in the state: California Transplant Donor Network, Golden State Donor Services, Lifesharing and OneLegacy.
