New York, NY – May 26, 2006: The New York Organ Donor Network has enhanced its Web site www.donatelifeny.org, by adding a Chinese language section about organ donation. The Chinese Web section —one of only two known Web pages in the United States about donation in Chinese — was launched to coincide with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Kelly Eng, the New York Organ Donor Network’s community relations specialist and liaison to the Chinese American community in New York City, said, “The in-language Web pages will allow the Chinese population to understand why there is a need for more organ donors, including the fact that in the Greater New York metro area alone, nearly 7,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. The site will encourage Chinese visitors to enroll in the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. The registry is a confidential database administered by New York State Department of Health. Once they have enrolled in the registry, it is important to share the decision with family members.”

Other elements of the Chinese Web section include stories about Chinese organ recipients and people who have enrolled in the donor registry, the answers to commonly asked questions about donation, and a survey about the Asian-American attitudes and beliefs toward organ donation. A highlight of the Web pages is the space devoted to showcasing a print and radio advertising campaign about organ donation targeted to the region’s Chinese population which launched in October last year. Both the survey and the advertising campaign are part of a three-year research project funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services designed to increase organ donation in the Chinese population of New York City. For the grant, the Donor Network’s partners are the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

For the Chinese advertising, the Web pages focus specifically on the print campaign, the first phase of which was based on an emotional approach. For example, it shows a young man feeling that he is emulating great people before him by enrolling as an organ donor. In the second phase, the goal was to focus on a more logical approach. In this case, for instance, the number of people on the transplant waiting list is shown. When names are removed, readers can determine whether it was because the patient received a transplant or died because of the shortage of organs. Both phases of the campaign were created by L3 Advertising Inc., an advertising agency that specializes in the Asian-American market, with its headquarters in New York.

Over the coming months, the Donor Network plans to increase the number of pages in the Chinese section of its Web site. Ms. Eng said, “We will add many more inspiring stories about Chinese-Americans whose lives were saved by organ donors. We also hope to enhance the site by including more information and data so that the Chinese population will be better informed about donation. The overall objective is that an increased number of enrollments in our region will save many, many more lives.”

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: In 1978, a joint congressional resolution established Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. The first 10 days of May were chosen to coincide with two key anniversaries: the arrival in the United States of the first Japanese immigrants (May 7, 1843) and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (May 10, 1869). In 1992, Congress expanded the week to a month-long celebration.

Data:

•  Of the 91,775 people on the organ transplant list in the United States, 5,142 are Asian.
   
•  Of the 28,112 people who received organ transplants in the United States in 2005, a total of 1,138 were Asian.
   
•  Of the 7,593 deceased organ donors in the United States in 2005, a total of 153 were Asian.

New York Organ Donor Network: Founded in 1978, the New York Organ Donor Network is the second largest of the nation’s 58 nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs). It is responsible for the recovery of organs and tissues for transplantation, and public and professional education efforts for a culturally and ethnically diverse population of 13 million in the Greater New York metropolitan area. The Donor Network serves Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester, and also Pike County, PA. It works closely with nine transplant centers and more than 100 hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. All hospitals are required by law to notify the Donor Network (their local OPO) of all in-hospital deaths in a timely manner, so that organ and tissue donation can be discussed with families of the deceased. The Donor Network is a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which oversees the national transplant waiting list as well as all transplant centers and OPOs in the United States.

For more information, contact Kelly Eng at keng@nyodn.org and Martin Woolf at mwoolf@nyodn.org.