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FACEBOOK PARTNERS WITH DONATE LIFE ORGANIZATION TO INCREASE ORGAN DESIGNATION
VIENNA, Va. – May 1, 2012 – The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) applauds Facebook for working with Donate Life America to recognize designated donors and formally register users who make the decision to donate and save lives.
Currently, there are more than 114,000 listings on the transplant waiting list. AOPO represents 58 federally-designated organ procurement organizations across the United States that work to procure almost 30,000 organs for transplant each year. By highlighting this small segment of the American population, Facebook has achieved its mission “to make the world more open and connected.”
The need for organ donation is great and increasing. Currently, an average of 18 people die every day while waiting for a life-saving organ. According to Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, “Even one individual can have an outsized impact on the challenges facing another, and on the world.” One organ donor has the potential to save up to 8 lives through organ donation, and help countless others through tissue and eye donation.
“We hope that this partnership will help provide Americans with the facts they need to make a decision regarding organ and tissue donation, and allow an easier way to sign up to be a donor”, said Tim Brown, President of AOPO. “Using the Facebook tool will also help people share their decision and have those important discussions with their families.”
To add your organ donor status to your Facebook profile, go to your Facebook “timeline” and choose “life events” and "health and wellness." At the top, you will see an option to select and save “organ donor.” If you have not done so, AOPO also asks that you add your name to your state donor registry through Donate Life America at www.donatelife.net.
AOPO will keep you posted on news coverage throughout the day:
Official Press Release
Step by step guide to adding donor status on Facebook
Facebook Post to share on your Facebook Timeline
Mark Zuckerberg's Blog Post
Mark Zuckerberg's Interview
All ABC Coverage on the Initiative
Hope Within Reach
There are over 114,000 listings across the country for people who are waiting for the call that will save their life. Some people wait days, many wait years, and thousands of people each year die while waiting for an organ transplant.
In these same communities, many families are answering a call no one wants to receive. Someone they love has died.
Hope lives where these two worlds come together, creating miracles out of tragedy.
The generosity of donors and their families make the gifts of organ and tissue donation possible. Organ procurement organizations (OPOs) are the stewards of these precious gifts that are given with love and received with hope. Together, we put hope within reach to tens of thousands of people across the country.
Get Involved
If you’d like to add your voice in support of organ and tissue donation, contact your local OPO to find events in your area. To find out how to register as a donor in your state, or to locate your OPO, please click here. To receive news and events from AOPO, please send an email to aopo@aopo.org with the subject line "Subscribe."
ABC News Discusses Facts about Donation:
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