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01 Aug

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News Press Release Social Media

Donate Life California Launches Registration Campaign During National Minority Donor Awareness Week

SAN DIEGO, Calif., August 1, 2013 – Donate Life California celebrates August 1_7 as National Minority Donor Awareness Week. The nationwide observance aims to educate minorities of the desperate need for organ, eye and tissue donors within multicultural communities. The observance also encourages people from all racial and ethnic groups to become donors by registering at Donate Life California, talking about it with their family and friends, and helping raise awareness by using the social media tools found at www.donatelifecalifornia.org/nmdaw.

Minorities make up 56 percent of the nearly 120,000 men, women and children on the national organ transplant waiting list. In California, minorities make up 72 percent of the nearly 21,000 people on the state’s transplant waiting list.

Ernesto Bravo Chavez, 12, of Palm Springs was just a young boy when he got a kidney transplant in 2005. His donor, Gabriel Barajas of Los Angeles, was a part of the Special Forces team that captured Saddam Hussein. Barajas had returned from three tours in Iraq when he was killed in a car crash. Ernesto says, “My mom always said she wanted to be buried just the way she was born. But now she has changed her mind. She wants her body to help all people, and my dad thinks the same way.”

Minorities are disproportionately affected by illnesses, like hypertension and diabetes, which can lead to end-stage renal disease and the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant, contributing to the higher number of minority patients on the national organ transplant waiting list.

This makes the need for more donors from ethnic minority groups critical. In California in 2012, 2,018 minority patients received organ transplants from 454 minority deceased donors and 311 from minority living donors.  The wait is long and, sadly, 18 people die every day across the U.S. because the transplant they so desperately needed did not come in time.

“Donated organs are matched to recipients by compatible blood type, not race or ethnicity,” says Charlene Zettel, CEO of Donate Life California. “However, certain blood types are more common in ethnic minority populations, which is why increasing the number of minority donors can increase the frequency of minority transplants. Everyone waiting for an organ transplant will have a better chance of receiving one if there are more donors from their racial/ethnic background.”

To register as a donor or for more information about how to get involved please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org.

The Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ and tissue donor registry which records the decision to donate in a secure, confidential database that is searched by authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. It is administered by Donate Life California and California’s four nonprofit, federally designated organ recovery organizations: Donor Network West , Lifesharing, Sierra Donor Services, and OneLegacy. For more information about the Donate Life California Registry, how donation saves and improves lives, and to sign up, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org  or www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

High concentration of Azithromycin in infected tissues is also caused by the fact that phagocytes and macrophages transport it to the site of infection and release in the area of inflammation. Azithromycin is prescribed in case of illness or injury at the time.

22 Jul

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News Press Release

Donate Life America 2013 National Donor Designation Report Released

Number of Registered Organ, Eye and Tissue Donors Continues to Rise Steadily

RICHMOND, June 27, 2013 – Donate Life America unveiled its sixth annual National Donor Designation Report Card during the organization’s annual meeting, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, this year. The document reports 109 million people had enrolled in state donor registries by the end of 2012. The public can add to that number and help save the lives of the more than 120,000 men, women and children awaiting organ transplants by designating a donation decision at www.donatelife.net.

This year’s Report Card puts specific emphasis on the efforts of Donate Life America and its constituents to reach the 18-24 year old demographic, who say they have not registered because they “have not heard about it” or “simply have not gotten around to it.”  Though it is extremely important to educate all demographics, the 18-24 is least likely to register, followed closely by people 65 and older, who often erroneously believe they are too old to be organ, eye and tissue donors.

Nationwide, 45 percent of individuals age 18 and older have registered to be organ, eye and tissue donors. Montana and Alaska top the state list with 82 percent and 80 percent respectively, followed by Washington with 78 percent.

The document also reports that of all recovered donors in the United Sates in 2012, 40 percent of organ, 48 percent of eye and 45 percent of tissue donors, were authorized through the state donor registry.  These numbers have continued to rise since Donate Life America began collecting this data in 2007.

“Eighteen people die each day due to a lack of available organs for transplant and the number of people on the national organ transplant waiting list continues to rise, “ said David Fleming, President and CEO of Donate Life America.  “The only way to give greater hope to all of the individuals waiting is for all who have not year registered to take the time to do it today.”

View full report card

High concentration of Azithromycin in infected tissues is also caused by the fact that phagocytes and macrophages transport it to the site of infection and release in the area of inflammation. Azithromycin is prescribed in case of illness or injury at the time.

10 Jul

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News Uncategorized

Donate Life America Honors OneLegacy Employee with Prestigious Pinnacle Award

LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 11, 2013 – OneLegacy, the non-profit, federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization serving the seven-county greater Los Angeles area, reported today that Sonia Navarro, the agency’s Latino Community Development Coordinator, received a prestigious Pinnacle Award from Donate Life America for her Done Vida Embajadores program, which was considered the nation’s best volunteer program to inspire support for organ, eye and tissue donation.

“This is a tremendous honor,” she acknowledged. “I am so pleased to receive this recognition from our national organization and on behalf of the many Spanish-language Embajadores, who have worked so hard to inspire our community to register as donors and choose donation to honor family members. Volunteering is not part of the Latino culture, so it has been important to build trust one person at a time.”

Ms. Navarro came to OneLegacy in 2005 and served the agency’s Family Services group working with grieving donor families. She leveraged that three-year experience into her community development work by doing one-on-one telephone calls with donor families to solicit their support in volunteering. As a result, over the past five years Ms. Navarro has built the nation’s largest volunteer program for Spanish-speakers and has successfully collaborated with the University of Claremont on a HRSA grant and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in a five-year National Institute of Health grant.

“I’ve watched donor mothers who couldn’t speak become amazing public speakers,” she remarked. “They’re not afraid to walk into a new situation and own the room. We go into every event with purpose: to inspire people. We’re able to channel their feelings into actions that honor their loved ones.”

She has also created strong partnerships with the Mexican, Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Nicaraguan Consulates in Los Angeles, which now host “Done Vida” (Donate Life) tables staffed by Embajadores in their Ventanilla de Salud (Health Window) programs.

“Developing relationships with the consulates is critical, as these are the places that immigrants trust most,” Navarro pointed out. “Trust is a big issue in the Latino community when it comes to donation.”

According to Tom Mone, CEO of OneLegacy, “Sonia’s passion for her work and the Latino community is evident in everything she touches. Sonia, her Embajadores, and community partners have helped Latino donor families leave a legacy of life, and improved Latino donation rates in our area to levels that consistently outperform the national average.”

Ms. Navarro credits her beloved parents who came to Los Angeles from Mexico with very little and built an apparel manufacturing business through hard work and dedication. “My parents cemented my cultural background and worth ethic,” Ms. Navarro acknowledged.

Ms. Navarro lives in Hacienda Heights, Calif., and is the proud mother of two teens, Angel and Albany Turcio. She was also nominated this year for the Women of Excellence award by the National Latina Business Women’s Association in Los Angeles.

Donate Life America is a nonprofit alliance in the United States dedicated to educating the public about organ, eye and tissue donation. Donate Life America is composed of national organizations and 47 local affiliates that coordinate donation related activities at the grassroots level.

With more than 200 hospitals, 11 transplant centers and a diverse population of 19 million, OneLegacy is the largest organ and tissue recovery organization in the world. For more information, call OneLegacy at (800) 786-4077 or visit www.onelegacy.org.

High concentration of Azithromycin in infected tissues is also caused by the fact that phagocytes and macrophages transport it to the site of infection and release in the area of inflammation. Azithromycin is prescribed in case of illness or injury at the time.