LiveOnNY Offers Support for Employees Who Choose to Become Living Organ Donor Heroes

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (June 1, 2022) – LiveOnNY, the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the New York City metropolitan area, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, and the lower Hudson Valley, announced it will now offer wage support and time off to employees who choose to become living organ donor heroes. The nonprofit organization proudly joined the Living Donor Circle of Excellence, a program created be the American Society of Transplantation (AST), which celebrates employers who implement internal policies that provide salary support to their employees who choose to become living organ donors.

“Financial hardships associated with living organ donation are often a significant disincentive for many potential living donors,” said LiveOnNY President & CEO Leonard Achan, RN, MA, ANP. “LiveOnNY is proud to offer this benefit to our employees. By partnering with the Living Donor Circle of Excellence, we aim to eliminate the financial barriers to living donation and allow our team members the opportunity to consider becoming living organ donor heroes. By supporting living donors we are taking one more step toward achieving a zero patient waitlist.”

John Gill, MD, president of the American Society of Transplantation said, “Living donors are heroes amongst us, their gift is life-saving for patients in need of a kidney or liver transplant and has a huge positive impact on society. Patients facing life-threatening diseases are able to live normal lives, raise their families, and participate in their communities. By supporting living organ donors, we are also building stronger communities.”

The announcement that LiveOnNY joins the Living Donor Circle of Excellence comes as the New York Living Donor Support Act has passed both the New York State Senate and Assembly.  This bill, which LiveOnNY has been a vocal proponent of, would offer support for all New Yorkers who choose to becoming living organ donors heroes.

“Approximately 8,400 New Yorkers are on the waiting list for organ transplants, primarily kidneys, that they desperately need; 400 of them will die this year because there is an insufficient number of organs available,” Achan wrote in an op-ed piece published by The New York Daily News in support of the bill. “The only short-term answer to the problem is encouraging more people to join the New York State Donate Life Registry to give this beautiful gift, particularly living donors willing to give one of their healthy kidneys, because they offer the best long-term rescue for a person suffering from end-stage kidney disease.”

Nationally, more than 100,000 patients are waiting for a life-saving kidney or liver transplant. Of the transplants performed in 2021, living donors accounted for 24% of kidney transplants and 6% of liver transplants. Financial disincentives are a barrier for many potential living organ donors. Living organ donation typically includes a four- to six-week recovery period and without support many will use their vacation time or take unpaid absences during this period to donate.

ABOUT LIVEONNY
LiveOnNY is a nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving lives, providing comfort, and strengthening legacies through organ, eye, and tissue donation. The OPO, which was established in 1978, serves a culturally and ethnically diverse population of 13 million residents in New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Working closely with transplant centers and hospitals, LiveOnNY coordinates organ, eye, and tissue donation for transplant, educates the public and healthcare professionals about donation and transplantation, and promotes the importance of signing up on the New York State Donate Life Registry. LiveOnNY works closely with 11 transplant centers, nearly 100 hospitals, and several tissue and eye banks. LiveOnNY is a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which oversees the organ transplant waiting list in the U.S. For more information, please visit LiveOnNY.org.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF TRANSPLANTATION
Founded in 1982, the American Society of Transplantation (AST) is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, organ donation, and service to the community. The society is the largest transplant organization in North America (consisting of more than 4,000 professional members) and is recognized as the premier society for transplantation. AST members are sought out as transplant experts and advocates. Other transplant organizations, policy makers, regulatory agencies, payors, academic institutions, and the general public look to the AST for guidance, research, and resources related to transplantation. To learn more, visit: www.myast.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Media Inquiries:

Josh Knoller, josh@nicholaslence.com

LiveOnNY Inquiries:

Ali McSherry, amcsherry@liveonny.org