Pictured are Donate Life North Carolina's Katie Paulson, district supervisor Dean Almond, senior examiner Wendy Spainhour, examiner Mary Sawyer, examiner Todd Biggerstaff, DMV ambassador Karen Devine and examiner Gladys Tyer. Tammy Dunne with Donate Life North Carolina also helped to present the award to the office.
Examiners at the Fuquay-Varina Driver’s License Office received recognition from Donate Life North Carolina for having the highest organ and eye donor designation rate (63.1 percent) for its district in 2012.
Fuquay-Varina’s rate increased more than two percentage points from the previous year. The average sign-up rate in North Carolina for 2012 was 51.9 percent. Donate Life North Carolina’s annual awards program recognizes driver license offices in the 14 districts for achieving the highest or the most improved donor designation rates.
This is the first year the Fuquay-Varina office has received an award from Donate Life North Carolina. The organization wants to share its appreciation for the examiners, whose job has a direct impact on the more than 119,000 people across the country waiting for a much needed organ.
In North Carolina, more than 3,400 individuals currently wait for a life-saving transplant. Unfortunately, 18 people on average die each day due to the shortage of available organs.
Donate Life North Carolina, a nonprofit organization, works to inspire North Carolinians to register as organ, tissue and eye donors. Residents have the opportunity to join the state donor registry at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when receiving or renewing a driver’s license or ID card.
Those individuals who say yes to donation receive a small red heart on their license or ID card. Last year, more than 300 North Carolinians gave the gift of life through organ donation. Each person who registers as a donor has the potential to save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance up to 50 more through tissue and cornea donation.
“We are grateful for DMV Examiners who play a critical role by providing the opportunity for North Carolinians to register as organ and cornea donors,” said Sharon Hirsch, executive director of Donate Life North Carolina. “Among their many responsibilities, we want Examiners to know how much the donation and transplantation community appreciates their efforts. Without Examiners asking, ‘Would you like to be an organ donor?’ our state donor registry numbers would be much lower. By asking this one question, almost 1,000 North Carolinians lives were saved by transplantation last year.”
Donate Life North Carolina is a collaborative group of organizations that promote organ, eye and tissue donation including Carolina Donor Services, LifeShare Of The Carolinas, the NC Eye Bank and the transplant centers at Carolinas Medical Center, UNC Hospital and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
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