Club Spotlight: Heart beats strong in organ donation club

Campus Time-University of Rochester

New York State has the second lowest organ donation rate in the country, as reported by Co-director of bLifeUR and sophomore Owen Orloff. According to the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, the need for organs in the state is one short of 9,900. At our local Strong Memorial Hospital alone, some 600 people remain on waiting lists, their fates uncertain.

bLifeUR — a new SA-recognized organization on campus — is hoping to change these statistics. The organ donation awareness club aims to combat the taboo of organ donation that seems to arise from a lack of information and awareness.

Co-director and senior Dan Halligan, Co-director and junior Kaitlyn Mokay and Orloff co-founded the club as an affiliate of bLifeNY, which is a group that was founded by two UR Medical Center transplant surgeons in summer 2011 to increase organ donation rates in New York State.

Read more: http://www.campustimes.org/2012/03/01/club-spotlight-heart-beats-strong-in-organ-donation-club/