Category Archives: News

05 Feb

If you could save lives just by shopping online, would you? If your answer is yes, then we have just the thing for you, AmazonSmile! When you shop at AmazonSmile, and select Donate Life California as your charity, AmazonSmile donates 0.5% of your purchase price to Donate Life California!

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to www.smile.amazon.com

2. Log in using your Amazon account information (email address and Amazon password). If you’re not a current Amazon customer, create an account.

3. Under the “Your Account” dropdown menu, select “Change Your Charity”. Type “Donate Life California” into the box under “Or pick your own charitable organization” and hit the search button.

4. A list of organizations will come up, Donate Life California should be at the top. Once you find us us (West Sacramento, CA and Incorporation in 2005), hit “Select”.

5. That’s it! You should see the “amazonsmile” logo in the upper left hand corner of the home page, and just to the right of that, you’ll see “Supporting: Donate Life California”.

Please bookmark www.smile.amazon.com and log in to AmazonSmile every time you shop on Amazon to ensure that 0.5% of your purchase goes to Donate Life California. If you don’t see the “amazonsmile” logo in the upper left-hand corner when you’re shopping Amazon, Amazon won’t know to donate 0.5% of your purchase price to Donate Life California.

Your AmazonSmile contributions will help support our organ, eye and tissue donation outreach and education efforts statewide!

21 Jun

By
Ruy Laredo

in
Events News

It’s Pride Month! Let’s Talk About the HOPE Act!

June marks the celebration of Pride Month, where we honor LGBTQ history and commemorate this year’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

The Stonewall Riots took place at the end of June 1969 when the NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar and tavern. Patrons and supporters of the inn resisted and started an uprising, which would serve as a turning point for the expansion of LGBTQ rights across the US.

While the fight still continues to this day, major strides have been made for LGBTQ rights. We are happy to say that advancements have been made in the world of organ and tissue donation as well, particularly with the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act in 2013.

What is the HOPE Act?

The HOPE Act was introduced by California Senator Barbara Boxer in 2013. It was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by former President Barack Obama on November 21, 2013. The California State Legislature followed up with similar legislation in 2016 to bring state law in line with the HOPE Act.

The law began implementation in November 2015 to research transplantation of organs from HIV+ donors into HIV+ candidates for a transplant. The HOPE Act eventually enabled HIV+ persons to both receive and donate organs beginning in 2015.

Prior to the passage of the legislation, anyone who was HIV+ was unable to register themselves as an organ donor. This provides immense hope to those in need of a transplant and widens our potential donor pool so that more lives can be saved.

With the development of the HOPE Act, there is now officially no disqualifying conditions when signing up to be an organ donor. Age, illness, and disease do not prevent you from registering as an organ donor. For more information on donation, click here.

How the HOPE Act Has Saved Lives

The HOPE Act enables potential HIV+ donors to match with other HIV+ persons in need of a transplant. Because of the HOPE Act, 100 organs have been transplanted since 2015 and through 2018.

There are over thirty transplant hospital nationwide participating in the HIV+ transplant program. In California alone, we have two hospitals eligible to perform HIV+ transplants. Thanks to the HOPE Act and these transplant hospitals, we will continue to save lives in perpetuity.

For more information on the HOPE Act, visit the United Network for Organ Sharing’s (UNOS) website.

09 Nov

By
Ruy Laredo

in
Events News

November 9th Marks the Beginning of National Donor Sabbath

Beginning today November 9^th and thru November 11^th, Donate Life California invites you to join us in celebrating National Donor Sabbath! Every year, we celebrate National Donor Sabbath for persons of all faiths to honor donors who have saved lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

Along with taking a moment to pause and honor all the donors who have saved lives, National Donor Sabbath also looks to spread the word about the importance and need of organ, eye and tissue donation across all faiths and congregations. With over 114,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, the need for new organ donors remains critically important.

National Donor Sabbath Encourages Education on Organ Donation

When it comes to registering as an organ and tissue donor, many mistakenly believe that their religion prevents them from being an organ and tissue donor. In fact, most religions support and even encourage organ donation.

Over the past five years, key religious figures such as Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama have vocally expressed how organ donation is one of “the greatest service(s) to mankind.” Many religions believe organ donation to be a final act of kindness and generosity. If you are interested in checking out the views of various religions on organ donation, please click here.

National Donor Sabbath encourages all faith leaders and followers to research his or her religious group’s tradition and position on organ and tissue donation and transplantation, as well any other ethical issues that may be of concern. In addition, each faith leader should be mindful of any new resolutions or positions adopted at his or her religious group’s national assembly. The group’s position is also subject to change at any moment.

How You Can Help This National Donor Sabbath

For all those attending religious congregations on this National Donor Sabbath weekend, we encourage you to strike up conversations about organ and tissue donation with your fellow parishioners. Additionally, discussing the matter with your leaders of faith may encourage them to bring up the topic of organ, eye and tissue donation during your service. And as always, we encourage you to share our message of saving lives through your own social media outlets. For additional information on National Sabbath, please click here.

Before we let you go, here are some quick facts on organ donation that you can share with members of your congregation:

Almost 35,000 patients began new lives in 2017 thanks to organ transplants (about 92 every day).
Nearly 22,000 people in California – over 114,000 people nationally – are currently waiting for an organ transplant.
Sadly, over of 20 people die every day while waiting, because the organ they needed is not donated in time.
A living donor can save a life by donating a kidney or a portion of their liver, lung, pancreas or intestine. For more information on living kidney donation, go to Living Donation California.
On average, there are more than 30,000 tissue donors and more than 1 million tissue transplants are performed each year; the surgical need for tissue has been steadily rising.
Approximately 40,000 patients have their sight restored through corneal transplants each year.