Columnist Susan Snyder: Have faith, and be free to donate

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003 | 8:22 a.m.

Have a heart.

And if you're not going to be using it anymore, please donate it to someone who needs a new one.

Same goes for kidneys, the pancreas, eyes -- any organ that can be procured and donated after you've gone to that big Arizona Charlie's in the sky.

And if faith is the only reason you avoid signing that donor card, Anne Sagel has some good news: Unless you are Romany or Shinto, your God won't mind.

"We don't try to change people's minds (about organ donation). But if there's a misconception, I just want people to be informed," said Sagel, community education coordinator for the Nevada Donor Network.

The network is the federally designated organ bank for Southern Nevada. The organization is joining the Las Vegas Valley's Jewish community in a National Donor Sabbath on Sunday to help inform members of that faith that donating organs is not against their religious teachings.

It is the first faith the Nevada Donor Network is targeting in its effort to inform people -- who otherwise would donate their organs -- the beliefs their faith organizations have about such donations.

Sagel said she hosts many information booths and outreach tables at community events, and faith is the most common reason people cite for not being organ donors.

"I chose the Jewish faith first because to me that seems to be the group that has the most controversy about it," Sagel said. "They say, 'I can't be a donor because I'm Jewish.' But it's not my place to tell them otherwise."

She figured that was the duty of local rabbis, whom she began contacting in January. She started with Bob Mirisch, executive director of Temple Beth Shalom, and ended up with support from 22 synagogues and Jewish faith-based organizations, including members of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform groups.

The Mitzvah of Organ Donation is from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the West Charleston Library auditorium, 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. That's on the south side of Charleston between Jones and Rainbow boulevards in Las Vegas. All residents are welcome. You don't have to be Jewish.

The program will feature remarks by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and a panel discussion among local rabbis and doctors about the myths and facts of organ and tissue donation. Area rabbis also will broach the topic during services Friday and Saturday, Sagel said.

Next year's target is Hispanic Catholics, who have a lower donation rate than other Catholics, she said.

The network procures eight different organs for transplants, but only kidney and kidney-pancreas transplants are done in Nevada. Recipients of other organs go to other states. Sagel said 157 Nevadans were waiting for kidney or kidney-pancreas transplants last week.

By Thursday morning, that number had dropped to 151.

"When the number changes, I always wonder did that mean somebody got what they wanted, or does it mean they didn't make it?" Sagel said.

The network's website lists the organ and tissue donation beliefs for most major faiths. Check it out at www.nvdonor.org.

Chances are if it's OK with you, it's OK with your God.