Donor Alliance Broadens Public Education Efforts Throughout Colorado; Being Named Successor Organization to the Donor Awareness Council

Donor Alliance was named the successor organization to the Donor Awareness Council, officially assuming the organization's responsibilities on July 1, 2010.

Source: BenZinga

Denver, CO (PRWEB) December 8, 2010

Donor Alliance, the federally designated organ procurement organization and American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming, was named the successor organization to the Donor Awareness Council (DAC), officially assuming the organization's responsibilities on July 1, 2010.

Donor Alliance was selected as the organization's successor through a competitive process after the DAC Board of Directors made the decision for the organization to cease operation based on collective agreement that integration of DAC's programs would ultimately benefit the community by providing consistent messaging and cohesive educational campaigns to increase donation.

As successor to DAC, Donor Alliance will work directly with Colorado's 56 driver's license offices (DLOs) to provide information to the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicle employees and their customers about organ and tissue donation. Specifically, Donor Alliance will ensure that state employees are equipped with the training and educational materials necessary to uphold the Colorado statute which requires all DLO employees to ask the public if they would like to be organ donors when they receive or renew their driver's license or state ID card.

Colorado has made strides in its donor designation rate since the implementation of the online State Donor Registry in 2001. In late 2006, Donate Life America launched the Donor Designation Collaborative (DDC), a national initiative to improve organ, eye and tissue donation rates with goals of reaching 100 million designated donors and a 50 percent donor designation rate in the United States. Since then, the Donate Life Colorado Organ and Tissue Donor Registry has seen a steady increase in its designation rate.

Annual Donor Designation Rate:

*Donor Designation refers to the rate at which individuals join the state donor registry as a percentage of licensed drivers and ID card holders.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 (through Q3)

59.8% 60.3% 62.5% 64.4% 65.3%

Donor Alliance plans to launch a new marketing campaign in April of 2011 throughout offices during National Donate Life Month. The development of new training manuals and curriculum to better serve the DLO population will also be rolled out, so people will be better informed about their options to donate prior to going online or entering driver's license offices to receive or renew their license.

Additionally, Donor Alliance will oversee funds generated from the Emily Maureen Ellen Keys Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Fund, allocating dollars to programs promoting donation throughout the state.

“The Donor Awareness Council has been instrumental in helping grow Colorado into a national leader in donor designation, the rate at which people say yes to donation when receiving or renewing their driver's license,” said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance. “Currently, Colorado has the nation's highest donor designation rate of over 65 percent and recently received a Gold Medal from Donate Life America for being among the top five highest performing states.”

“The Colorado Driver's License personnel have enjoyed the continued partnership with Donor Alliance,” said Roni White, deputy director for the Department of Revenue Motor Vehicle Division. “They are very cognizant to the fact that each and every one of them plays a significant role in asking the donation question and providing materials to the more than one million customers that appear in the driver's license offices each year. It's exciting to be one of the leaders in the nation in this lifesaving endeavor.”

According to Dunn, more than 28,000 lives are saved each year in the United States through the gift of organ and tissue donation yet nearly 108,000 people in the U.S. and 2,000 people in Colorado and Wyoming are still waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

“Having the state's Organ Procurement Organization assume the Donor Awareness Council's responsibilities is a positive shift for Colorado's donation and transplant community to come together under one roof, unifying our efforts to further increase Colorado's donor designation rate and implement programs as we work to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation,” explained Dunn.

For more information about organ and tissue donation, please visit DonorAlliance.org. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, please visit DonateLifeColorado.org or call 303-329-4747 or toll-free at 1-888-256-4386 for more information.

About Donor Alliance

Donor Alliance is the federally-designated, non-profit organ procurement organization and an American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. As a recognized leader in facilitating the donation and recovery of transplantable organs and tissues, Donor Alliance's mission is to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. To achieve this mission, Donor Alliance employs an effective family approach and recovery programs in more than 100 hospitals. Donor Alliance also inspires the public to register as organ and tissue donors through community partnerships, public outreach and education campaigns throughout its donation service area.