Organization plans to use Enloe organ-donor campaign as model, California

By LARRY MITCHELL | Chico Enterprise Record

CHICO — Enloe Medical Center's campaign to get more staff members to sign up as organ donors is being considered a big success. So much so, that it will be used as a case study by an organ-donation organization. Enloe's campaign started for hospital leaders in April and was opened up to the entire staff on July 1. It ended on July 31. A total of 125 employees registered as organ donors. By registering, people state their wish to donate organs if they die, said Christina Chavira, a spokeswoman for the Chico hospital. In the campaign, Enloe was helped by the California Transplant Donor Network, one of four organizations in the state that work with hospitals to coordinate organ transplants. "We're gathering our notes from (Enloe's) experience and will put together a presentation for our internal staff," said Sandy Andrada, project manager for the network. "We'll review all of the great things that happened during Enloe's campaign and talk about how we can make the same campaign happen at the other 179 hospitals that we serve." Because there's a big gap between the number of donors and the number of patients waiting for a transplant, efforts are always being made to increase the number of donors, Andrada said. At one time, people were asked at the Department of Motor Vehicles if they wanted to be a donor. Those who did were given a pink paper dot to stick on their driver's license. However, the dots sometimes fell off, and uncertainty about the person's wishes remained. In 2004, a computerized system, the California Donor Registry, was started, as an official list of donors. Andrada said nearly 8,600,000 people are listed on the registry. Considering there are 28 million licensed drivers in the state, many more people could be registered as donors, she said. People can add their names to the registry at the DMV when they apply for or renew their driver's licenses, or they can sign up online at www.donatelifecalifornia.org. A web page in Spanish can be found at www.donevidacalifornia.org. Proponents of organ donation have developed an educational program on organ donation for high school students. A video that's part of this program can be viewed at www.donatelifecalifornia. org/highschool. There's also been an effort to make this program a mandatory part of the state's health curriculum for high schools, Andrada said. Like everyone else, when students apply for driver's licenses, they are asked if they want to be registered as donors. Andrada said it makes sense for them to study the subject in school so they can make an informed decision. Both last year and this year, bills have been introduced in the Legislature that would require at least 15 minutes of instruction concerning organ donation in 9th or 10th-grade health classes. Both bills moved forward but then were held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and went no further.