Multicultural communities are disproportionately in need of lifesaving organ transplants – especially kidneys. Currently, 58 percent of the U.S. transplant waiting list is comprised of multicultural patients. Donate Life America (DLA) and the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) created Donate Life ECHO to focus on the importance of donation and transplantation in multicultural communities.
ECHO stands for Every Community Has Opportunity – the opportunity to save and heal lives through donation and transplantation. Donate Life ECHO, July 8-21, 2018, is a national observance that engages social media and community storytelling to talk about donation education, highlight the importance of registering to be an organ, eye and tissue donor, honor donors and donor families, and celebrate what transplant has made possible in multicultural communities.
Education, outreach and registration opportunities are vital steps towards increasing the number of registered donors and lives saved in multicultural communities.
This year, Donate Life ECHO storytelling and outreach will include:
- Boomerang #DonateLifeECHOChallenge: DLA and AMAT are inviting the public to share a boomerang video on Instagram about why donation is important to them and/or their community. Donate Life ECHO Challenge participants will tag @donatelifeamerica, use the hashtag #DonateLifeECHOChallenge and encourage people to register their decision to be a donor at RegisterMe.org.
- Walgreens efforts to help raise consumer awareness: Throughout July, information about Donate Life ECHO will be featured on Walgreens health resource panels included with prescriptions filled at its retail and local specialty pharmacies nationwide. Walgreens will also be hosting donor registration drives at Walgreens stores in six markets across the country: Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, GA; Miami, FL; San Antonio, TX; Detroit, MI; and Phoenix/Tucson, AZ.
- Donate Life Caregiving: This year, the Donate Life ECHO observance will center on the theme of Donate Life Caregiving. DLA and AMAT are paying homage to the caregivers within and for our communities. Caregivers are vital to the health and well being of patients, families and our societal fabric. The thread of Donate Life Caregiving will be woven through stories shared during the two weeks of Donate Life ECHO. Videos focused on Donate Life Caregiving, submitted by organizations across the country, will be featured on DLA social media platforms during the last week of ECHO.
“We created Donate Life ECHO to give a national voice to the experience of multicultural communities with donation and transplantation. The voices and experiences from these communities need to be heard,” says Maria Veve, President of the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT). “This year, join us to include Donate Life Caregiving in the Donate Life ECHO message. Caregivers lift us up, walk with us and catch us when we fall. We are grateful for the opportunity to recognize all they do to make LIFE possible in this year’s observance. ”
Join us in celebrating 2018 Donate Life ECHO. Donate Life ECHO resources are available in English, Spanish and additional languages. Resources and more information about how to be a part of Donate Life ECHO are available at: DonateLife.net/ECHO and amat1.org/programs/ECHO.
You can register your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor in the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org or in the Medical ID Tab of your iPhone Health App or in Spanish at DoneVida.org.
Data from Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) as of April 20, 2018
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About Mid-America Transplant
Mid-America Transplant enables adults and children to receive lifesaving gifts through organ and tissue donations. For more than 40 years, it has facilitated and coordinated organ and tissue donation, and now serves 84 counties covering eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northeast Arkansas that together are home to 4.7 million people. It saves lives by providing expert and compassionate care for organ and tissue donors, recipients and families, and transforms the clinical processes required to recover and transplant organs and tissues. Mid-America Transplant was the first such organization in the U.S. to use an in-house operating room for organ recovery and pioneered innovative models of increasing donor registry enrollment to provide more organs and tissues to those in need. It is federally designated as one of 58 such organizations in the U.S., and is the first organ procurement organization to be recognized as a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence.
About the Association of Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT)
AMAT was established in 1992 to address the increasing need for organ, eye and tissue donors in the multicultural communities, while simultaneously offering support, shared expertise and professional development opportunities for its members as they save and heal lives. AMAT is a self-sustaining, self-governed organization operating solely on voluntary contributions from individuals, corporations, and other affiliated organizations. For more information, visit: www.AMAT1.org.
About Donate Life America (DLA)
Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 nonprofit alliance of national organizations and Donate Life State Teams across the United States committed to increasing the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available for transplant to save and heal lives. Donate Life America manages and promotes the national brand for donation, Donate Life℠; develops and executes effective multi-media donor education programs; motivates the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors; manages the National Donate Life Registry, RegisterMe.org; and assists Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registration programs. For more information, please visit DonateLife.net.