HHS secretary launches new organ donation program

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new Gift of Life donor initiative will promote organ and tissue donation, blood donation and registration for bone marrow donation, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced Tuesday.

As part of the program, announced during National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, Thompson unveiled a new organ and tissue donor card to help provide organs for the more than 75,000 Americans now waiting for transplants.

Current donor cards can be as simple as a letter "Y" on a driver's license. The new card, compatible with laws in all 50 states, features lines for two witness signatures. HHS will encourage that the cards by signed by family members who would be contacted in an emergency, to ensure a would-be donor's wishes are carried out.

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Thompson also announced a Workplace Partnership for Life program in which employers, unions, and employee organizations will join a nationwide network to promote donations. Thompson said the workplace is a good environment to raise awareness for organ donation, and he will encourage individual companies to develop their own campaigns.

Charter members to the Workplace Partnership include General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Daimler Chrysler, Verizon, 3M, the U.S. Postal Service, Bank of America, American Airlines and Baxter Healthcare.

According to HHS, a model curriculum on organ donation also is to be developed for use in driver's education courses nationwide. The program is based on a Wisconsin law inspired by a teen-ager killed in an auto accident in 1999.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), there were 22,827 organ transplants last year, up from 21,655 in 1999.

HHS says the need for organs is growing almost twice as fast the supply. Its numbers show that in 1990, almost 15,000 organs were transplanted, while the number of patients waiting was 22,000.

The shortage of donations from cadavers, along with medical advances, UNOS said, is increasing the occurrence of living donor donations, in which people donate a piece of a liver or a kidney.

Last year, the number of living donors grew to 5,532 donations from 4,747 in 1999, a 16.5 percent increase, the largest rise ever recorded. Donations from cadavers rose slightly to 5,984 in 2000 from 5,825 in 1999, a 2.7 percent increase.

"We must remember that increasing living donation alone will not save enough lives," said UNOS President Dr. Patricia Adams in a written statement. "We must continue to educate the public about the importance of organ donation."

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United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Transplantation Resource

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