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National Donor Day: A "Celebration Of Life"
Editor's Note: See related story on National Donor Day.
Saturn and its United Auto Worker partners are joining America's leading non-profit donor organizations to encourage millions of Americans to visit any participating Saturn location between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2001 to become part of National Donor Day.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
There are at least three ways the public can participate.
- Blood collection will be available at many Saturn locations and where not available, the public can fill out a blood pledge card that will be forwarded to the local blood bank for follow-up contact and blood donation.
- Blood donors may elect to have their blood typed for entry into the National Marrow Donor Registry. Once in the registry's database, potential donors will be contacted if and when they are matched with a marrow candidate.
- All visitors will be encouraged to fill out an organ and tissue donation pledge card ("Share Your Life") and equally important, tell their next of kin of their decision to become an organ and tissue donor ("Share Your Decision").
National Donor Day is more than just a blood drive, it is a "celebration of life." In each of the first two years, transplant recipients, candidates awaiting transplantation, living donors and donor families, visited many Saturn facilities. National Donor Day emphasizes that transplantation has become mainstream medicine that prolongs lifespan and promotes productive quality of life. In addition, demands for a transplant among minority populations is disproportionately high, while traditional minority representation among donor pools is not meeting the need. As a result of these two divergent trends, there is a greatly heightened need for donor awareness within minority communities. National Donor Day seeks to spread awareness of this heightened need among African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders.
NATIONAL DONOR DAY 2000 ORGANIZATIONS
- American Association of Blood Banks
- American Liver Foundation
- American Medical Association
- American Red Cross Tissue Services
- America's Blood Centers
- Coalition on Donation
- Emergency Nurses Association
- Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International
- Leukemia Society of America
- LifeSouth Community Blood Centers
- The Marrow Foundation
- National Kidney Foundation
- National Marrow Donor Program
- National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program
- Saturn Corporation
- Transplant Recipients International Organization, Inc.
- United Auto Workers
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
THE NEED
Approximately 10,000 life saving transfusions occur daily, yet less than five percent of the eligible population of Americans gives blood regularly. The winter months, including February, are often times of critical blood shortages and National Donor Day augments the blood supply during this period. There are over 70,000 Americans, including children, awaiting organ transplants at any given moment and, sadly, approximately twelve die every day because a suitable donor is not found in time. Family consent is the major determining factor in donation and if Donor Day encourages millions of potential donors to make their wishes known to their families (in the words of the Coalition on Donation "Share your life. Share your decision."), the available donor pool would expand greatly. Transplantation leads to normal, productive lives. For example, a current university study has tracked the births of nearly 2,000 healthy babies by mothers who are transplant recipients. Thousands of Americans, including children, need a bone marrow transplant each year yet are unable to find a suitable match. Marrow typing of a potential donor requires only a very small sample of blood. Patients who need bone marrow transplant are actually in need of new stem cells, which produce the body's blood cells. To date, bone marrow has been the most prominent source of stem cells. New research proves that umbilical cord blood is also an effective source of stem cells. Cord blood banks are developing around the county.
LOCAL EVENTS
National Donor Day will be held at nearly 400 Saturn sites nationwide from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2001.
Source: Saturn UAW
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