NEW YORKERS, LET’S START
AN UNBREAKABLE CHAIN OF LIFE

Register to Be Donors, and Urge Others to
Follow in Our Footsteps

A mere 2 million New Yorkers are registered to be organ, eye and tissue donors, out of a statewide population of 19 million. It translates into 13 percent of New Yorkers age 18 and over who are eligible to register. Sadly, our state ranks right near the bottom nationwide in terms of state enrollments. Many other states have enrollments of 60 percent or more.

If New Yorkers were to rephrase former Mayor Ed Koch’s most oft-repeated question to his constituents, “How’m I doing?” to “How are we doing?” in terms of the level of enrollments in the New York State Donate Life Registry, the most polite answer, in truth, would be, “We can do better.”

Faced with an opportunity to turn this around, the New York Organ Donor Network has launched the SaveLivesNewYork.org Web microsite to implement viral marketing campaigns. The goal is to maximize technology and use word-of-mouth messaging (the viral element) to boost enrollments and build a community that promotes the Gift of Life.

Our hope is that thousands of New Yorkers will register on the site to be donors and then start, link by link, a potent and unbreakable chain of life by spreading the message to friends and relatives. That way, we hope to reach hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers.

I realize that for many people confronted by a tough economic environment, the question of organ, eye and tissue donation may not appear to be their number one priority. But as we begin to reflect more and more on the important values that matter to us, this is an opportune moment to consider the positive aspects associated with donation and transplantation.

Psychologists tell us that people feel better about themselves and more connected to their communities when they help others. What better way is there to do so than by celebrating our lives by passing the miracle onto others?

Let’s show the world that New York is number one. Each one of us can make a difference by adding our name to the registry. I appeal to you to get the ball rolling today at www.SaveLivesNewYork.org