New student group advocates organ donation
Online registration effective and easy to do, source says
Monica Baltich
Issue date: 4/22/10 Section: Campus News
Posted at 9:10 a.m. 4/23/2010
More than 100,000 people are currently on the organ transplant list and every 10 minutes another name is added, according to Donate Life America.
Many students think they are officially registered to be a donor but the little orange dot may not be enough, according to the Students for Organ Donation organization.
SOD's purpose is to raise awareness about organ, tissue and eye donation on campus and in the community, according to its Facebook page. The organization also seeks to educate people on the proper steps to take to become a donor.
President of SOD, junior Katie Jamison, co-founded the organization for a class project because she said she doesn't think students know how valuable the gift of donation really is.
"I don't think students recognize what an integral part they can play," she said. "They don't really have a sense for their own mortality because it just isn't at the forefront of their minds."
Jamison said a true example of the good it can do came from senior Kyle Joswiak, who became a big supporter of the group only a few weeks before becoming the victim of a fatal accident. She said Joswiak signed up to be a donor through the group and the contributions he made has changed lives.
"Kyle donated seven organs that saved five lives and what's neat is that he made the decision for himself," she said. "It's sort of amazing and that's really the purpose. That's why we exist."
Jamison said the goal of the organization is to tell people how they can become organ donors and students may have to do more than just agree to have the orange dot on their driver's license. She said that before April 1, if someone agreed to be an organ donor on their license it only meant they were interested and it was not official.
"Something many students don't know is that they might not be officially registered unless they renewed their license after April 1," she said. "So we are encouraging people to go online to yesiwillwisconsin.com and officially register. It seriously only takes like 2 minutes to do."
More than 100,000 people are currently on the organ transplant list and every 10 minutes another name is added, according to Donate Life America.
Many students think they are officially registered to be a donor but the little orange dot may not be enough, according to the Students for Organ Donation organization.
SOD's purpose is to raise awareness about organ, tissue and eye donation on campus and in the community, according to its Facebook page. The organization also seeks to educate people on the proper steps to take to become a donor.
President of SOD, junior Katie Jamison, co-founded the organization for a class project because she said she doesn't think students know how valuable the gift of donation really is.
"I don't think students recognize what an integral part they can play," she said. "They don't really have a sense for their own mortality because it just isn't at the forefront of their minds."
Jamison said a true example of the good it can do came from senior Kyle Joswiak, who became a big supporter of the group only a few weeks before becoming the victim of a fatal accident. She said Joswiak signed up to be a donor through the group and the contributions he made has changed lives.
"Kyle donated seven organs that saved five lives and what's neat is that he made the decision for himself," she said. "It's sort of amazing and that's really the purpose. That's why we exist."
Jamison said the goal of the organization is to tell people how they can become organ donors and students may have to do more than just agree to have the orange dot on their driver's license. She said that before April 1, if someone agreed to be an organ donor on their license it only meant they were interested and it was not official.
"Something many students don't know is that they might not be officially registered unless they renewed their license after April 1," she said. "So we are encouraging people to go online to yesiwillwisconsin.com and officially register. It seriously only takes like 2 minutes to do."
Jamison said the group is affiliated with Donate Life America and is among the first student organizations of its kind in Wisconsin. She said its official website addresses some of the barriers people might face when deciding to become an organ donor.
"The site talks about things like how some people think it's against their religion but actually all major religions support organ donation," she said. "A lot of times the reasons sound more like myths or that students just don't know enough about it."
Senior Alyssa Ogletree recently became a member of the organization and agreed to become a donor when she was 16 because she said she believes organ donation is incredibly important.
"I believe when we pass, we don't need to take our organs with us and organ donation is one of the best gifts to give and it's a small sacrifice on our part," she said. "Physical pain is one of the hardest things a person can go through and if a donation can help that, I think it's a great cause to support."
Senior Lizzie Resch said she did not initially agree to be an organ donor on her driver's license but now thinks it is a good idea and others should consider it as well.
"Just the thought of it (being an organ donor) at first I didn't like," she said, "but the more I thought about it, it seems like it could be really helpful and in a way its kind of like you live on too."
In order to officially register as an organ donor, go to www.yesiwillwisconsin.com. To find out more about SOD look for UW-Eau Claire Students for Organ Donation on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Eau-Claire-Students-for-Organ-Donation/341295321165?v=info&ref=mf
"The site talks about things like how some people think it's against their religion but actually all major religions support organ donation," she said. "A lot of times the reasons sound more like myths or that students just don't know enough about it."
Senior Alyssa Ogletree recently became a member of the organization and agreed to become a donor when she was 16 because she said she believes organ donation is incredibly important.
"I believe when we pass, we don't need to take our organs with us and organ donation is one of the best gifts to give and it's a small sacrifice on our part," she said. "Physical pain is one of the hardest things a person can go through and if a donation can help that, I think it's a great cause to support."
Senior Lizzie Resch said she did not initially agree to be an organ donor on her driver's license but now thinks it is a good idea and others should consider it as well.
"Just the thought of it (being an organ donor) at first I didn't like," she said, "but the more I thought about it, it seems like it could be really helpful and in a way its kind of like you live on too."
In order to officially register as an organ donor, go to www.yesiwillwisconsin.com. To find out more about SOD look for UW-Eau Claire Students for Organ Donation on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Eau-Claire-Students-for-Organ-Donation/341295321165?v=info&ref=mf
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