Monticello, NY – Sullivan County’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Office is partnering with Donate Life New York State to recognize April as National Donate Life Month, an annual observance highlighting the critical need for increased organ, eye and tissue donations. In particular, the DMV Office is hosting a tree-planting and flag-raising ceremony on April 9 at the Government Center in Monticello at 1 p.m.
“Our office urges everyone to learn more about donating life-saving organs and to say ‘yes’ to being an organ donor when completing transactions via the DMV,” encouraged Sullivan County Clerk Russell Reeves, whose office oversees DMV operations in Sullivan County. “Nearly 9,000 New Yorkers are currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant, with 1,500 of them waiting for over five years. And around 400 of them will die every year because an organ is not available in time. We can do something about that!”
Less than half of all New Yorkers are enrolled in the State’s Donate Life Registry, the electronic database that documents a person’s consent to be an organ and tissue donor at the time of their death. This constitutes the second-lowest percentage of registered donors in the nation.
“The DMV is where close to 80% of organ donors first hear about and sign up to give life,” Reeves explained. “We make it easy for anyone who is at least 16 years old.”
New Yorkers can also enroll when applying for health insurance or via www.donatelife.ny.gov/register.
Donate Life NYS is a nonprofit comprised of organ and tissue recovery organizations, health professionals and individuals whose lives have been affected by donation.