Pennsylvania Organ Donor Awareness Campaign is Working; Year-End Results Show Progress and Room to Improve.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The news is good - Pennsylvania's organ donor awareness campaign is working. But there is still much work to be done.

It has been one year since the launch of the compelling education and media campaign Ordinary People, Extraordinary Power throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The campaign, sponsored by Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), Gift of Life Donor Program, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, was designed to raise organ donor awareness and motivate Pennsylvanians to sign up as organ donors on their driver's license and state identification cards. Actual driver's license photos of Pennsylvanians who became organ donors at the time of their deaths were used to tell real stories of both donor families and transplant recipients - accounts told in the media, as well as through billboard and radio advertising and a series of special events.

Between June 2004 and June 2005, 65,010 people added the organ donor designation to their driver's license. This represents a .51 percent increase overall, with each of the state's 10 low-donor counties adding new designated donors to their ranks. The largest increase among the targeted counties was in Lackawanna, with a .83 percent gain in designated donors over the past year. Following closely behind was Luzerne County with .81 percent.

The gravity of the situation is clear. "Last year, Pennsylvania was second in the nation when it came to organ donations, with 538 Pennsylvanians donating organs after death, an increase of 5% over the previous year," according to Howard M. Nathan, president and CEO, Gift of Life Donor Program. "Our goal is to increase the number of donors to help save the lives of the 6,500 Pennsylvanians waiting to receive life-saving organs," he added.

Pennsylvania's increase contributes to gains on the national front. Across the country, there were more than 7,100 deceased donors, up from about 6,000 in previous years, an 11 percent increase, according to Susan Stuart, president and CEO, Center for Organ Recovery and Education. Donor family members can take comfort in the fact that nearly 27,000 people in the U.S. received a life-saving organ transplant in 2004, a new national record.

The Pennsylvania education campaign will continue at least through June 30, 2006. Strategically placed billboards, located near high-volume entertainment venues, sports complexes and amusement parks, continue to bring the message to the forefront during July and August. New initiatives planned for 2006 include a faith-based brochure to spread the message to religious communities and special programming geared to African American communities in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Altoona.

To read personal stories about what organ donation has meant to donor families and to learn where you can sign up to be an organ donor in your county, visit www.donatelife-pa.org. You can also call 1-877-DONOR-PA.