OGDENBSURG -- April is what Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center calls “National Donate Life Month,” and the hospital is joining the many organizations across the country to become advocates for promoting organ donation in conjunction with their communities.

Every year, more than 1,500 people in New York State receive kidneys, livers, and hearts that have been donated for transplantation.  However, with more than 9,000 New Yorkers still on waiting lists, the need for organ donation far exceeds the supply. 

Anyone 16 years or older can become an organ donor in New York State by registering online atDonateLife.ny.gov/register, or when you first apply for a driver’s license, learner’s permit, or non-driver ID. If you are enrolled in the registry, New York does not require family consent to carry out your wishes to be an organ, eye, or tissue donor. However, keeping everyone informed will help avoid any confusion or delays.

Claxton-Hepburn works very closely with the team at the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network and the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation. Nurse Stefany Carville is the medical center’s organ donation liaison. Carville’s 18 years’ nursing experience at Claxton-Hepburn enables her to work with organ donor patients and their families.

In Carville’s role, she educates staff nurses and providers about organ donation, policy and procedures of organ donation, and when to initiate the phone call to the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network.  Carville tracks the hospital’s reporting compliance and shares these numbers with the Medical Center’s Board of Directors.

For more information about organ donation, you can visit the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network website atwww.donorrecovery.org and the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation at www.MTF.org