A Message from Sue Dwyer, Cayuga County Clerk:
APRIL IS THE ANNUAL ORGAN DONOR MONTH IN YOUR LOCAL DMV OFFICE!
County Clerk Sue Dwyer and our local DMV Office is partnering with the New York Alliance for Donation (NYAD) to encourage people to become organ/tissue donors. The DMV is a great place to get people thinking about this important decision; 85% of people who enroll in the Donate Life Registry do so through their local DMV Office. We try to help educate the public on how they can make a huge impact on other people’s lives and families. During the entire month of April, our local DMV Office will be encouraging New Yorkers to learn more about organ, eye, and tissue donation, and the impact it has on thousands of people in New York State. Although New York State has the third highest need for donors in the entire country, New York State has one of the lowest rates of designated donors in the nation. Only 32% of adults have enrolled in the New York State Donate Life registry, compared to the national average of 42%, and 46% of Cayuga residents are donors. The statistics are truly eye opening! Every 18 minutes a person dies waiting for a transplant, and more than 9,500 patients in the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. YOU can make a difference. The greatest gift we can give is the promise to save or enhance someone else’s life with organs and tissues that we no longer need.” It only takes a few minutes to visit our local DMV Office and sign a donor form, and your decision today can save a life tomorrow. The office is located at 160 Genesee Street in Auburn. While you can sign up any time of year, every April we do fun activities and provide treats to promote organ donation. Anyone 16 and older can sign up to be a donor, and it’s a very easy process. The public is invited to visit us, ask questions, and complete a donor card. Our DMV staff participates in trainings so they can answer most questions about organ donation. I want to commend our DMV Supervisor Shereen Androsko and the entire DMV staff for their enthusiasm and help in organizing this month-long initiative for many years now. Over the past eight years, our DMV staff has signed up more than a thousand new donors and they have made a significant impact on the amount of registered organ donors in Cayuga County. One organ donor can save up to 8 lives and tissue donors can actually enhance as many as 75 lives. Sign up to be a donor! Be a hero and give the gift of life!
For more information on organ donation, please contact these organizations:
Donate Life at 1-866-NY-DONOR, or visit www.donatelife.ny.gov
The New York Alliance for Donation at (518)326-3237, or visit www.alliancefordonation.org
The Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network at 1-800-810-5494, or visit: www.donorrecovery.org