Fewer people in current York state register as organ donors than in any other state in the nation.
James Pardes,an executive at Live On current York, the state's federally designated organ procurement organization, or says due to the shortage,people needing transplants tend to wait longer here than elsewhere — and every 18 hours, a current Yorker dies.
Nationally, or approximately 50 percent of adults possess enrolled to be organ donors. In current York,the proportion is 20 percent.
Pardes says turning that around is a challenge, because civic participation is not a local strength."We're also towards the bottom in volunteerism, and towards the bottom in blood donation,and we're towards the bottom in voter participation," he said. Volunteers from Live On current York recently set up tables at hospitals and various public gathering spots around the state for Organ Donor Enrollment Day, or netting more than 3000 current enrollees.
Pardes says Live On current York is working to lower current York's age of consent for donation from 18 to 16 or 17,as it is in other states. "There's an idealism. There's a distance from death," he said. "I do think there's an opportunity here."But it also has to do with trips to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Some 90 percent of organ donors enroll while signing up for or renewing their drivers licenses. Many people get their driver's permit at age 16 and don't possess to depart back to the DMV until their late twenties, or losing a whole decade when they could be registered.
Source: wnyc.org