| Organ and Tissue Donor Education Program |
| "Fifteen Americans die each day while waiting for an organ to become available. More than 78,000 men, woman, and children now wait for a transplant to replace a failing kidney, heart, liver, lung or pancreas. Every 16 minutes another person joins the waiting list. Thousands more wait for tissue transplants, desperately needed marrow to stay alive, and require blood transfusions. The facts are just astounding! Someone dies every 96 minutes because there aren't enough organs to go around. Sixty percent of the US population is eligable to donate blood, however, only five percent do. And, only 25 to 35 percent of those who need a marrow transplant will find a match amoung their family members." |
| The Rotary Organization has an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. In 1998, Rotary, partnered with the Living Bank of Houston, Texas, to integrate the Rotary donor registry with it's national donor registery. This registry is designed to compliment state registries where they exist. All Rotarians refistered will recieve quarterly newsletters to keep them abreast of developments in the field. The GOALS of the program are: To increase public awareness about the need for organ and tissue donors To actively promote the signing of donor registration forms To expand educational efforts into the local community |