Jennifer Clampet,
WBAMC:
Every 10 minutes in the United States a name is added to the organ transplant waiting list. Each day 18 people die waiting for an organ.
“I had never really thought about organ donation,” said Joey Colleng, a telecommunications specialist at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
The Air Force veteran started dialysis in 2000 and waited nearly four years for a kidney transplant.
“It wasn’t until after I got my transplant that I got my donor card,” Colleng said noting that sometimes reality has to hit for people to understand the importance of something.
“It’s different when it finally happens to you or someone you know,” Colleng said.
According to www.organdonor.gov, more than 114,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ. An average of 79 people receive organ transplants each day.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, all people regardless of age should consider themselves potential organ and tissue donors. The program has few absolute exceptions and no strict upper or lower age limits.
One donor can save up to eight lives and benefit more than 50 lives through donor tissue.
In April, an organ donor at William Beaumont Army Medical Center saved five lives – including a 69-year-old Texas man who received a heart and a 27-year-old Texas woman who received a liver.
“The staff at WBAMC has been instrumental in saving lives by reporting potential organ donors to the donor referral line in a timely manner,” read a recent release from the Southwest Transplant Alliance, a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing.
UNOS maintains the national computerized registry of patients waiting transplants.
Read more: http://fbmonitor.com/2012/06/13/organ-donation-gives-gift-of-life/
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
No comments:
Post a Comment