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National Minority Donor Awareness Day is August 1
Although minorities make up 34 percent of the population, they represent 54 percent of the more than 108,000 people on the U.S. Transplant Waiting List.
August 1, 2010 is the 14th annual National Minority Donor Awareness Day. The nationwide observance serves as an opportunity to educate minorities about the critical need for organ and tissue donation within the multicultural community, and to inspire people to register as donors.
Some of the more than 58,000 minorities (this number includes African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and people of multiracial decent) waiting for an organ transplant are suffering from diabetes and hypertension, two conditions that occur more frequently among minority populations, and can cause organ failure. Last year, 28,000 people received life-saving organ transplants, 11,000 of whom were minorities.
Life Connection of Ohio, the non-profit organ procurement organization in Maumee, encourages people to learn the facts about organ and tissue donation on National Minority Donor Awareness Day. Below are some myths that prevent people from registering as donors.
The most important decision anyone can make in honor of National Minority Donor Awareness Day is to say “yes” to donation.
Currently, there are more than 108,000 people on the National Transplant Waiting List. Of the more than 3,100 Ohioans waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, 220 people await a kidney at the University of Toledo Medical Center. The organ shortage continues to grow at a staggering rate, as another person is added to the waiting list every 11 minutes. Sadly, 18 people die each day before they are able to receive their second chance at life. Hundreds of thousands more people need donated tissues to restore health, mobility or sight. The good news: One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 50 people.
For more information about organ and tissue donation, contact Life Connection of Ohio at 419.893.4891. To register as an organ and tissue donor, visit www.DonateLifeOhio.org.
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