Program to raise awareness of need for organ donations

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | 9:35 a.m.

Saying Nevada has a "pressing need," representatives from the state attorney general's task force on Wednesday will launch a plan to encourage residents to donate their organs and tissue when they die.

The state-sponsored Organ and Tissue Task Force was formed during the 2001 Legislature as a result of a national shortage of designated organ donors. The task force in conjunction with the state Motor Vehicles Department was given the job of establishing a centralized list of residents who have pledged their organs.

Nevada is one of 14 states with such a list, said former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, a founding member of the task force.

The first in a series of meetings -- part of a media blitz to promote the task force -- will be held 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave. Subsequent promotions, including a high school poster contest and charity film festival, are scheduled later in the month.

"There's a pressing need to generate public interest for people who are hoping for the possibility of an organ transplant," Del Papa said.

In Nevada 687,209 drivers -- about 44.3 percent of the state's 1.55 million licensed drivers -- have registered to have their organs donated, DMV spokesman Kevin Malone said. In 2002 about 37 percent of Nevada's then-1.44 million drivers were organ donors, he said. He added that the numbers are not a relevant comparison because not all of the drivers have gone through their full renewal cycles.

The task force is not aiming for a specific increase, but instead is focused on raising awareness through a commemorative license plate and other methods to dispel what Del Papa said were longstanding "myths" surrounding the procedure.

The recent thefts of donated bodies at the University of California-Los Angeles has not affected people's attitudes, she added.

"It's really unfortunate something like that happens when there are over 80,000 people who are hoping for a transplant," Del Papa said. "But given our growth rate, there's a constant need to keep up public awareness. It's just one more thing you need to educate people on."

Currently about 85,000 people nationwide are in need of new organs and tissue, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons during the 2001 Legislative session sponsored Assembly Bill 497, which requires the DMV to work with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection to create and maintain the directory of organ donors.