LifeLINES: What does donation mean to families and what do you see as the future of the waiting list? Dorrie: I’ve met hundreds of donor families who — down the road — have a part of the story from their loved one’s death that most people never get. That becomes tremendously meaningful to them. So, when we face barriers to donation, I feel confident in pushing because if we chose not to talk to that family, we’ve made a decision for them that they might later regret. We shouldn’t be making those decisions — families should. I do see a day — and I hope it’s during my career — that people don’t die waiting for a transplant. The list will always be there, but I think at some point people won’t linger and die. That’s a travesty. There’s no reason someone should wait as long as some people do. Especially Brown or Black people, who wait particularly long. I’m very proud of the work we’re doing for families and for those patients, and at the end of the day we get to say, “Something I did today made a difference.”
Dorrie Dils leads the 10th largest organ procurement organization in the country. Last year, Gift of Life broke records for both organ and tissue donation, helping thousands of people.
Our problem is that the Secretary of State — where 95% of all registrations originate — has made some changes. We now can take care of our tabs and other business online, and we can do it less often. I’m happy about that as a resident — we all benefit. But it has minimized the number of times the question about joining the Donor Registry is asked. That has significantly impacted our work. LifeLINES: What is Gift of Life doing about it? Dorrie: We are pivoting to reach Michigan residents in other ways. We’re investing a lot of time and energy into workplace partnerships (see Page 5).
We’re working with companies and hospitals that are large employers. They’re sharing the Donor Registry link with employees by email. We’re also excited that the DNR provides a link to the Donor Registry after online purchases of hunting and fishing licenses. Legislation is in the works to add the registration question to Michigan income tax forms. We believe that, if passed, Michigan would be the first in the nation to offer the opportunity to register this way.
We get to say, ‘Something I did today made a difference.’
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Gift of Life Michigan | golm.org
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