Program Aims to Increase Organ, Tissue & Blood Donations in the Workplace

In its continuing quest to educate the public about the lifesaving benefits of donation, LifeGift staff members now are approaching employers about enrolling in Workplace Partnership for Life, which encourages employers to support organ and tissue donation with their employees.

The initiative was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is backed by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who challenged the nation’s organ procurement organizations to enroll 5,000 employers nationwide. The program also encourages donations of blood and bone marrow.

“This is truly a win-win campaign in which everyone can play a significant role in recruiting potential organ, tissue, marrow and blood donors,” said Secretary Thompson. “If your organs could vote, wouldn’t they choose to empower other human beings to continue to live?”

LifeGift embraced the project in earnest and began enrolling companies this winter. Participants include A2D Technologies, Conoco, Dyonyx, Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, Schipul Technologies, Inc., Smart Kids Software, The Chinese Community Center and ECHOS Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services, as well as two Lubbock-based employers – The MED Group and TexasSize – a company which owns the local ABC and CBS television affiliates.

In addition, Houston City Councilmember Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, M.D., is helping LifeGift educate city employees about the importance of donation. In a presentation to City Council Jan. 28, the councilmember said she’d already signed a donor card, affixed a red donor sticker to her driver’s license, and discussed with her family her desire to be a donor.

“When a loved one is sick with liver, kidney or heart failure, it’s easy to see the need for organ donation. The key is to recognize that many people go to their graves with healthy organs that could save lives. We should not waste the opportunity to save lives,” Sekula-Gibbs remarked.

LifeGift is available to work with local companies to organize and plan activities, or assist companies with providing a link to the program’s national Web site at www.organdonor.gov. For more information about the Workplace Partnership for Life program, contact LifeGift at (713) 523-4438.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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