2,097 Join Registry

National Donor Day a Huge Success

The 2001 National Donor Day was the most successful yet. What began four years ago has grown into a hugely successful, life-saving event.

On February 10, 2001, the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) and The Marrow Foundation^® joined together with Saturn, its United Auto Worker partners, and a historic coalition of health organizations for National Donor Day - America's largest one-day donation event.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 714 of those who joined the NMDP's Registry are from minority and ethnic communities.
• 6,358 people donated blood. *
• 1,105 people pledged to donate blood.
• 15,000 organ donor cards were distributed.

* Results are from 427 of the 437 Saturn facilities hosting blood drives.

This represents a 17 percent increase in NMDP volunteers and a 27 percent increase in blood donations over the previous year's event.

During National Donor Day, 437 Saturn facilities offered the public an opportunity to learn about the miracle of life-saving donations and to participate in marrow and blood drives. Not only did people learn about donating organs and tissue, but they learned the importance of informing family members of their decision. In addition, a variety of special events across the nation gave people even more opportunity to learn and donate. One such event was the 93rd annual Chicago Auto Show.

Chicago Auto Show

"We need a national donation effort that measures up to the medical miracle of organ transplantation," said Thompson. "We need to fully recognize the value of the gift that is made by donors and their families, and we need to bring about more donations to save more lives."

As a result of the Chicago Auto Show alone, LifeSource, the NMDP's donor center in Chicago, added more than 419 volunteers - 320 minority - to the NMDP Registry.

To date, National Donor Day has resulted in the collection of approximately 20,151 units of blood and added 6,098 potential donors to the NMDP's Registry. Funding from The Marrow Foundation has helped to pay for tissue typing required to add volunteers to the Registry.

National Donor Day organizations include the American Association of Blood Banks, American Liver Foundation, American Medical Association, America's Blood Centers, Coalition on Donation, Emergency Nurses Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, National Kidney Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program, National Minority Organ & Tissue Transplant Education Program, Saturn Corporation, The Marrow Foundation, Transplant Recipients International Organization Inc., United Auto Workers and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For additional information about National Donor Day or any of the participating organizations, go to www.saturnuaw.com