Raising Awareness for Organ Donor Registration

When people are passionate about a cause, they develop creative ways to raise awareness about it. Organ donors, recipients and those that work tirelessly to increase the supply of potential donors, are finding new ways every day to get the word out about this critical issue. Here are a couple of clever ideas that donor advocates have used.

“I Heart Organ Donors” t-shirts. Donate Life Illinois is giving away T-shirts throughout the month of September to individuals who register every Tuesday or write in to tell campaign organizers why they “heart” organ donors.

Social media campaigns. This guide from OrganDonor.gov outlines the effectiveness of social media in reaching college and university students.

Computer-generated Art. The Wall of Life Project from the United Kingdom is an online mosaic of individuals who support organ donation. The uploaded photos define a larger picture of Louisa McGregor-Smith whose life was saved by a heart transplant in 2007 when she was 5 months old.

Television depictions. In a recent study from Purdue University, researchers concluded that television shows depicting organ donation in a positive light influence viewers to support organ donation themselves. The blog post citing the study points to television shows such as CSI, Grey’s Anatomy and House as shows with recent story lines supporting organ donation. Maybe the writers were donors.

Eagle Scout project. Intermountain Donor Services in Utah has developed a program for boy scouts wanting to earn their Eagle Scout designation to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. Participants earn an Organ Donor Awareness Patch for participating.

Grass roots campaigns. Donate Life Utah is our way of raising awareness about organ donation and generating donor registrations. If you read this blog, see our posts on Facebook and read our tweets, get creative and spread the word, please.

Anyone have a clever idea? Share it here.