'LIFE GOES ON' EFFORT BOOSTS ORGAN DONORS By SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE H. RYAN

A major organ donor awareness effort recently helped fuel a 50 percent increase in the number of drivers license applicants who signed up as organ donors. Thirty-three percent of all Illinoisans applying for a new drivers license in June and July agreed to be listed as potential organ donors, compared with just 22 percent in the same period of 1993.

A five-week media blitz — based on the theme, "Life Goes On" — was aimed at informing every Illinois resident about the urgent need for additional organ and tissue donors. The effort was funded from proceeds of the "Live and Learn" initiative, which I proposed and passed last year.

Unless people have hearts of stone, they cannot bear the stories of the two kids who appeared in our commercials — Jackie Manrose and Kevin Matthews — and stand idle when they have the power to help. That is why I personally thought it was extremely important to give people across Illinois a chance to hear these stories.

A Champaign County woman — Debbie Ackerman — believes the "Life Goes On" campaign played a major role in her 16-year-old daughter Kelly's cornea transplant. Kelly had waited several months for a donor cornea before learning in the midst of our campaign that a cornea had become available from a 19-year-old Chicago-area accident victim. Kelly's mother believes the secretary of state-sponsored commercials may have helped convince the victim's family to donate the organs.

Because people donated organs, "Life Goes On" for Kelly Ackerman, Jackie Manrose and Kevin Matthews. We hope the same thing will hold true for the 1,700 other people in Illinois still waiting for miracles to happen.

In June 1994, the percentage of donors was at 45 percent or higher in 19 counties and at 50 percent or more in three counties — Pike, Jo Daviess and DeKalb. The increase held steady for July, bringing the total number of people on record as willing organ donors to about 1.5 million.

In addition to the media blitz, proceeds from the $1 million awareness campaign were used:

   • To convene Illinois' first statewide organ donor conference last April, with 200 attending.

   • To begin installing loop machines and an organ donor message in all of the state's full-time drivers license facilities.

   • To greatly expand training for employees in all drivers license facilities to sensitize them to organ donor issues. As a result, my office discovered marked increases in donor registrations at facilities where employees had received this training.

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   • To work with hospital administrators and nurses to heighten their awareness of the need for organ and tissue donation.

   • To work with members of the clergy to reach target groups, particularly minorities, to address a severe shortage of donor organs for minorities.

   • To develop materials for use in the workplace, encouraging companies to promote organ donor awareness among employees.

Illinois became one of just three states to establish a central organ donor registry in October 1992, when my office began using its drivers license database to keep track of people who agreed to be listed. That month, staff began asking all drivers license applicants if they wished to be donors, entering their answers in the secretary of state computer banks.

Beginning January 1, 1994, when this office started issuing the new hologrammed drivers license, the answer also appeared as a "Y" or an "N" on the front of the license. The percentage of applicants agreeing to be donors averaged about 24 percent statewide through January. The new mark of 33 percent was set in June with the introduction of the "Life Goes On" campaign.

The response, in a word, was outstanding. With the help of many people, we used a powerful message to mount an effective campaign that got the people of Illinois thinking about organ donation — and then doing something to help.

Nationwide, about one third of those on transplant waiting lists die before donor organs or tissue become available. National estimates are that 12,000 to 15,000 Americans die each year under circumstances that would allow them to become donors, but that only 4,500 a year actually donate. A single donor can provide as many as six organs for transplant.

Information works. That is why it is so important that we now follow up on our message with specific information about what people can do to help.

Anyone interested in receiving more information about organ donation can call the secretary of state's office at 1-800-210-2106. People can register as donors over the telephone by calling 1-217-785-1444. •

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