Southwest Transplant Alliance

On the next to last day of 2009, after a long and slow, but steady increase in registrations, the number of Texans who’ve taken the time to register as lifesavers on the Texas Organ Donor Registry reached 500,000.

This is an important milestone.

But Texas is still well behind much of the nation in registered organ donors.

The Texas Donor Registry was implemented in 2006 and nearly a year went by before the first 50,000 Texans registered as donors.

In just the last two months, nearly 100,000 Texans have added their names to the list of those willing to save lives through organ donation.

By registering, the burden is taken off family members, because no one will have to bring up donation with loved ones and ask permission at an already difficult time.

Permission already will be on record, permanently.

The low rates of registered donors in Texas make it harder for the state to meet its demand for donated organs.

In the first half of 2009, 28 percent of donated organs nationally came from registered donors; the rest came through family permission.

In contrast, only 2 percent of transplanted organs in Texas came from registered donors, putting pressure on organ bank representatives to secure family permission in the vast majority of cases.About a quarter of families say no.

On the bright side, Texas is among the leaders nationally in the annual number of transplants. Last year, only California exceeded the 2,166 performed in Texas.

And Texas is among leaders nationally in recent gains in sign-ups, thanks to tremendous efforts by the Texas Legislature and the Department of Public Safety, and thanks to outstanding support through storytelling by Texas media outlets. Texans are learning about the registry and they’re registering to be donors in much higher numbers.

The Texas Legislature helped simplify the online process as of Sept. 1, so that rather than having to mail in a form with two witness signatures, Texans can simply register online with an electronic signature. Just that one change has dramatically increased the numbers of Texans registering online.

The Legislature also simplified the Department of Public Safety office registration process. Now Texans should be asked only “Would you like to register as an organ donor?”

And every month, more Department of Public Safety offices are moving to a streamlined, electronic process for capturing registrations.

The department also has added the donation question to its online renewal program, which is attracting thousands of registrations each month.

New Year’s Day would be a perfect time for more Texans to resolve to be lifesavers by registering as organ donors.

Two minutes at www.donatelifetexas.org and some very basic information and a click to “submit,” and you’re in. It’s official.

And those two minutes of your time could mean years of life for people in need.

On New Year’s Day and in 2010, we hope Texans will generously register to save lives and that the Texas Donor Registry will soon hold the names of 1,000,000 lifesavers.

Pam Silvestri is director of communications for the Southwest Transplant Alliance.