October 10, 2018 marked the fourth annual Organ Donor Enrollment Day
Putnam County Unites with Hospitals, Businesses, Celebrities,
Elected Officials & Advocates for 4th Annual Organ Donor Enrollment Day
Now in its fourth year, Organ Donor Enrollment Day has one goal: to enroll as many New Yorkers as possible to be organ donors. Individuals, teams and organizations spent the day focused solely on educating and registering people to save the lives of the 120,000 Americans, 10,000 of which live in New York, currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant. The event is led by LiveOnNY.
“Every day 21 people die every day due to the lack of available organs. Over 98 percent of New Yorkers who enroll in the New York State Donate Life Registry do so through their local DMV offices which makes our efforts on this behalf even more important.” Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell said, “We can make a significant difference in increasing the numbers of donors through our outreach to the county employees and to our residents, and I am happy to work alongside County Clerk Bartolotti and LiveonNY to make their goal of a significantly increased registry a reality.”
Organ donation is an issue that affects people in Putnam County and beyond. Every 18 hours a New Yorker dies waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. A contributing factor to this statistic is that there are not enough people registered as organ donors. While 92 percent of New Yorkers support organ donation, and despite having the fourth fastest growing registry in the country, just 30 percent are registered. Powered by LiveOnNY, Organ Donor Enrollment Day urges New Yorkers to make their support for organ donation known and register as an organ donor.
There are over 15 million New Yorkers; yet only 27 percent of adults in New York State are registered donors, compared to the national average of more than 50 percent,” said Putnam County Clerk Michael Bartolotti. “While 37 percent of Putnam County residents are registered donors, we believe we can do better.”