National Donor Designation Report Card Reveals A 10 Percent Increase In Registered Organ Eye And Tissue Donors Since 2006

A national report card prepared by Donate Life America shows a 10 percent increase in donor designations over the last 18 months, bringing the total number of registered donors in the United States to nearly 70 million. Still, only 35 percent of licensed drivers and ID card holders have committed themselves to donation by registering to be donors through their state registry or motor vehicle department - leaving the donor shortage a leading public health crisis. The public can help stem the shortage of donated organs and tissue and save lives by visiting www.donatelife.net finding out how to be a designated donor in their state and ensuring their decision will be honored by registering.

To focus public attention on this critical gap, Donate Life America has partnered with Discovery Health for a third consecutive year. To commemorate National Donate Life Month, the cable network will feature primetime airings of the three-part special transplant throughout the month of April. Discovery Health also will air public service announcements targeted toward recruiting new donors and will feature donor registration information on www.DiscoveryHealth.com. "Discovery Health is proud to partner with Donate Life to help Americans understand how organ, eye and tissue donation saves and enhances lives and why their registration is so vital." said Carole Tomko, President and GM of Discovery Health.

In 2006, Donate Life America launched the Donor Designation Collaborative (DDC) as a nationwide effort to improve organ, eye and tissue donation rates in the United States. One of the main tactics to achieving the DDC's goals was ensuring that each state had an effective system for allowing individuals to legally designate themselves as donors. The primary goal of the DDC is to obtain 100 million actionable donor designations - commitments of individuals to donate their organs and/or tissues upon their death that are recorded in a searchable donor registry. A secondary goal for the DDC is to attain a 50 percent designation rate among licensed drivers in every state - that is, half of all people applying for or renewing a driver's license or ID card are registering to be donors. In 2007, only four states had a designation rate of at least 50 percent: Iowa (67 percent), Colorado (60 percent), Ohio (52 percent) and Utah (50 percent). Six other states are nearing the goal. "By sharing their best practices for registry design and public education, state teams will lead the way in helping individuals ensure their donation decision is honored, to the benefit of people in need and families who will take pride in the generosity of their loved ones," said G. David Fleming, President of Donate Life America.

"State donor registries play an essential role in the donation process by enabling individuals to make a decision that is similar to an advanced directive. In this case, donor designations authorize donation recovery agencies to proceed with donation," said Sara Pace Jones, Chairman of Donate Life America. "These legally binding donation decisions are critical for the nearly 100,000 people who are on the national organ transplant waiting list and many more awaiting cornea and tissue transplants to restore their lives and health."

In 2007, 1,521 organ donors had joined their state registry before their death. "The seemingly small decision by these individuals to register as donors had a huge impact on the lives of the approximately 4,600 people who received lifesaving organ transplants as a result," said Pace Jones. Additionally, it is estimated that registered donors enhanced or saved the lives of more than 300,000 people through tissue donation and gave sight to more than 14,000 through cornea donation.**

Because the majority of Americans designate donation decisions through their state motor vehicle department, Donate Life America and state donor registries are partnering with these agencies to meet this national public health need, facilitate an increase in donor designations and save more lives.

For a copy of the National Donor Designation Report Card or more information on how to commit to becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor in each state, visit www.donatelife.net.

About Donate Life America

Donate Life America is a not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States, serving as a national voice and inspiring all people to save and enhance lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

About Discovery Health

Discovery Health Media includes the Discovery Health and FitTV television networks and online assets including www.discoveryhealth.com as well as its Continuing Medical Education (CME) business and Discovery's first stand-alone VOD service, Discovery Health On-Call. Discovery Health Media is part of Discovery Communications, the number-one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 170 countries. Discovery's 100-plus worldwide networks are led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, The Science Channel, Discovery Health and HD Theater, with digital media properties including HowStuffWorks.com. Discovery Communications is owned by Discovery Holding Co. (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB), Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, Discovery's founder and chairman. For more information please visit www.discoverycommunications.com/.




National Donor Designation Report Card Reveals A 10 Percent Increase In Registered Organ Eye And Tissue Donors Since 2006



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