Southeast Texas Senior News

Information About being an Organ Donor

On Today’s Orange Senior Citizen News, we look at issues around organ donation.

Some of our readers have expressed concern that they may not be able to register as organ donors.

In most cases, that is just not the case.

Southeast Texas seniors are actually highly valued as organ donors.

With about 1.5 million Texans signed up to be organ and tissue donors, and with donations endorsed by everyone from elected officials to businesses to the faith community, Texans who need transplants have no cause for concerns about availability — right?

Not quite, says Michele Goddard of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). “In a state with 25 million people and a constant medical need for transplants, you never have enough registered donors,” Goddard said, noting that about 10,400 Texans are on waiting lists for transplants at any given time. Despite good overall registration numbers, actual donation rates remain flat in some areas, such as Central and Southeast Texas.

As Goddard’s colleague Pamela Mann noted, a lot of things can happen to prevent a Golden Triangle senior who has registered for the statewide Glenda Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry from having their wishes honored upon death.

“Even if you are in the registry, time is of the essence for harvesting organs after death, and family members who are not sure about a senior’s wishes may not be prepared to authorize it,” Mann said. “We urge folks who’ve signed up with the organ donation registry to have the conversation with as many family members and loved ones as possible — then have it again as often as is reasonable.

“There are a million possible reasons why someone who’s signed up to be an organ donor might not be able to do so. We don’t want a family’s lack of information to be one of those.”

How to Make Your Wishes as an Orange Tx Senior Organ Donor Known

The easiest way for Southeast Texas seniors to indicate your desire to be an organ and tissue donor is to go to the DonateLifeTexas.org website and sign up for the Glenda Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry. The process takes Ornage Tx seniors only a minute or so and requires no witnesses. 

Orange senior citizens can also can indicate your desire to be on the registry when you apply for, renew or replace your state driver’s license or I.D. card with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Once you’re signed up, tell your friends, family, co-workers and others what you’ve chosen to do and why. Even though hospitals check when a patient dies to see if they are a registered organ donor, family members who are unaware of the donor’s depth of conviction still may refuse to allow organs to be harvested.

In other cases, permission may be withheld because of religious concerns. As Goddard noted, though, most organized religions support organ and tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.

Organ Donation Options for Orange Tx Seniors

Although a majority of organs are donated posthumously, DSHS notes that more than half of all kidney transplants are from living donors. Live donations of a portion of a liver also are common. The Glenda Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry is not set up for seniors who want to be living donors, but Orange senior citizens can find out how to be a live donor by contacting the Organ Procurement Organization in your area. They’re listed under Resources on the DonateLifeTexas website.

The Glenda Dawson Registry also is not for people who want to donate bone marrow or cord blood, but these vitally needed donations can be made by Orange senior citizens on the National Marrow Donor Program website: www.marrow.org.

To request printed materials on organ and tissue donation, or to find out more about who can donate organs and tissue, Orange senor citizens can go to DonateLifeTexas.org or call DSHS toll-free at 800-222-3986.

Have you wanted to become an organ or tissue donor but weren’t sure how?

We hope today’s Orange Senior Citizen News has provided the information you need.

SETXSeniors.com – over 400 articles each year for our Southeast Texas senior readers.

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We would love to share it.

• Daryl Fant, Publisher Southeast Texas Senior Resource Guide & SETXSeniors.com
• (512) 567-8068
• Email us for more information: SETXSeniors@gmail.com

Stay tuned for more information right here on SETXSeniors.com – over 400 articles each year for our Southeast Texas senior readers.