1. Most importantly, talk to your family and friends about your wishes. Make sure they understand that you wish to be a donor. Also, make sure you understand the wishes of your loved ones.

2. Register to be a donor in your state. Most states, but not all, have donor registries. If you'd like, sign and carry a donor card. Have your next of kin or family members witness the card. Again, make sure to inform your family members of your wish to be a donor.

3. Also, if you'd like, put a donor sticker on your drivers license if you wish to be a donor, and make organ and tissue donation a stipulation of your living will.

Making a decision about organ and tissue donation can be difficult because it requires us to consider our own mortality and to talk about death and dying. However, many people have gained some degree of
comfort by informing loved ones of their wishes so that the burden of making a decision will not be placed on family members at such a difficult time.

It is a chance for one final, heroic act to turn a loss into a life-giving opportunity.

More than 96,000 people nationally and more than 7,000 in Texas are awaiting life-saving organ transplants.  While more than 30,000 people do get the organs they need each year, sadly about 18 people die every day before the organs they need become available.

New state registry is the way to officially become a donor and to be sure your wishes are carried out.  The registry web site is www.donatelifetexas.org

Southwest Transplant Alliance is the local organ donation agency, so if folks have questions about donation before choosing to register, they should contact STA at www.organ.org or 800-788-8058.

________________________________________________________________________________

MINORITIES PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN ORGAN DONATION AND
TRANSPLANTATION IN DALLAS AREA, NEW DATA CONFIRMS

People of Color Account for Half of Organ Donors and Recipients

New data unveiled in time for August 1, National Minority Donor Day, from Southwest Transplant Alliance, the non-profit organ and tissue recovery agency serving Dallas area, confirm the critical role that minorities play in the fabric of organ donation and transplantation. Latinos and African Americans combine to account for half of the donors in the area. 

The area's minority communities benefit directly from the generosity of their own, with people of color accounting for 60% of kidney recipients.
Kidneys represent the organ of greatest need across all ethnicities.
Interestingly, the percentage of multicultural kidney transplant recipients is virtually identical to the percentage on the waiting list (65%), which demonstrates the fairness of organ distribution.

Latinos represent 36% of kidney transplant candidates, while about Caucasians and African Americans each make up about 28% of the local wait list for kidneys.

These numbers show that we must carry the message into our minority communities that the gift of life benefits them directly. We must help each other.

This new data comes along with the inception of Texas' statewide Donate Life Texas Donor Registry, which has been available for Texans who would like to officially register their wish to be a donor. 

In 2006, families approached about donation in Dallas hospitals said 'yes'
to donation at consistently high rates, across ethnicities. Area consent rates among Latinos (69%) beat those among African Americans (61%) and Caucasians (61%), but just barely.

The shortage of organs for transplant is not due simply to a lack of giving, but rather to the rarity with which the opportunity to donate organs presents itself. Only one in 100 deaths results in a patient being eligible to donate.

Whenever someone says 'yes' to donation, it's something we celebrate.  It is a very rare and special opportunity to leave such a remarkable legacy. The choice to donate life makes a tremendous difference in our community - it saves lives, strengthens families and helps our community.