April is Donate Life Month

Downtown Hospital is partnering with the New York Organ Donor Network during National Donate Life Month to heighten awareness about the urgent need for organ, eye and tissue donors. Nearly 7,000 people are waiting for organ transplants in the greater New York metropolitan area. Thousands more need eye and tissue transplants.

The Donor Network and Downtown Hospital urge individuals to help save lives by enrolling in New York State's Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. The donor registry is a confidential database maintained by the New York State Department of Health. This effort to increase donor enrollments is being carried out as part of a national initiative to increase the number of donor enrollments in the nation's various registries to100 million. Only 1.2 million names are entered into New York State's donor registry, out of an estimated population of more than 19 million.

During National Donate Life Month, and throughout the year, New Yorkers can become organ, eye and tissue donors by enrolling in the Donor Registry by clicking on the registry link on the home page of the New York Organ Donor Network's Web site: www.donatelifeny.org. Once they have enrolled in the registry, they should inform their family about their decision, so that their decision to donate is honored.

To better assist people with this issue at Downtown Hospital, Kelly Eng, an employee of the New York Organ Donor Network, will be at the Hospital several days each week. Ms. Eng's office is located in Room 626 in the main Hospital building at 83 Gold Street, between Spruce and Beekman Streets; her pager number is (917) 219-7291.

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