Please Commit to Donate Life this April

April 2, 2018 - This April will mark the 15th anniversary of National Donate Life Month, a national campaign recognizing the importance of organ donation in East Hartford, across Connecticut, and across the United States. I would like to take the opportunity on this milestone anniversary to once again encourage residents to consider signing up for the Organ Donor Registry. Simply put, making the decision to become an organ donor saves lives.

There are a number of ways to become an organ donor, the most convenient and preferred method is to check the box indicating your preference when you register or renew your drivers’ license at the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Currently, over one million state residents have the red heart on their license, a symbol showing that they have joined the Donor Registry. While 28% of the state’s licensed population is registered, the need is still great. Over 1,200 Connecticut residents are waiting for an organ transplant and countless others depend on donated tissues, such as corneas, tendons, heart valves and skin, for restored health. For additional ways to register as an organ donor, and for further information, please visit www.registerme.org.   

At Town Hall on April 4th at 11:00 a.m. I will join advocates, organ donation recipients, and the public to honor those in our community who have been touched by organ and tissue donation and transplantation. We look forward to once again raising the Donate Life Flag in front of Town Hall, to increase awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation, and to encourage East Hartford residents to join the registry.

An outgrowth of the celebratory National Donate Life Month is the Flags Across America initiative that began in 2009. Here in Connecticut, that initiative is sponsored by Life Choice Donor Services and Donate Life Connecticut. The project seeks to honor and celebrate the hundres of thousands of donors and recipients whose lives have been affected by organ, eye and tissue donation, as well as to encourage workplaces, hospitals, and municipalities to raise the flag together to show support for all those impacted by donation. East Hartford is again participating in Flags Across Connecticut because the need continues to be real and our community can help make a difference as simply as saying “yes” to donation.

Statistics tell us that 90% of the public supports organ and tissue donation, but only 56% of the U.S. adult population is registered as an organ donor. Perhaps this is due to the misconceptions surrounding quality of life post-donation – the decision to be a donor does not interfere with the donor’s life or medical treatment in any way. After death, a single donor can save 8 lives with complete organ donation, and enhance more than 50 lives through eye and tissue donation. Just one person deciding to be a donor can help stem the tide of the average of more than 20 lives lost daily due to lack of available organs and tissues.

I do hope you will join me at Town Hall on April 4 as we raise awareness about this important need and learn more about the impact organ and tissue donation can have on the lives of countless people in East Hartford, in Connecticut, and in our country. Thank you for your consideration.

By Mayor Marcia A. Leclerc