Donate Life California Discusses White House Organ Summit on KUSI-TV
On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, Lisa Stocks, Donate Life California board member and current Executive Director of Lifesharing, appeared on KUSI-TV in San Diego to talk about the White House Organ Summit, held the day before in Washington, D.C. The summit brought together technology firms, advocacy organizations, universities, government organizations, and private businesses – all working together to tackle the nationwide organ donor shortage that claimed the lives of 1,000 Californians last year alone. It brought such hopeful news to the more than 120,000 Americans awaiting transplant, including the nearly 22,000 here in California.
In her appearance on KUSI, Lisa highlighted the efforts being taken to encourage more people to register as donors as well as to improve living kidney donation and organ preservation. Watch Lisa’s interview here.
In summary, the actions announced at the summit are aimed at:
- Closing the gap between the 95 percent of Americans who support organ donation and the roughly 50 percent who are actually registered donors. (43 percent in California.)
- Investing in clinical research and innovation that could potentially increase the number of transplants by almost 2,000 each year and improve outcomes for patients.
- Facilitating breakthrough research and development with almost $200 million announced in investments.
Read more about the summit and the actions announced here and/or watch the summit below.
One of the most important ways people can help is by registering to be a donor on the only official state registry in California, the Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry. You can sign up by checking “YES!” at the DMV or by going to donateLIFEcalifornia.org.
For more information about living kidney donation, visit LivingDonationCalifornia.org. Living Donation California is a Donate Life California program.
