 In 2001, the ACA became a partner and charter member of former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary Tommy G. Thompson's Workplace Partnership for Life, a nationwide network to increase the number of organ, tissue, marrow and blood donors in the United States.
By partnering in this initiative, the ACA feels it has a tremendous opportunity to give back to the communities in which doctors of chiropractic across the country practice. The association’s efforts to promote organ and tissue donation will help give the gift of life to thousands of patients and their families.
As a charter member of the Workplace Partnership for Life, the ACA has committed to help educate doctors on how they and their patients can become organ donors and to publish important information on the myths and facts of the program. The goal of the Workplace Partnership is to involve businesses, organizations, national associations, and other places of employment or volunteerism in educating their employees or members about the critical need for organs, tissue, marrow and blood. Partners can also be educational institutions, fraternal organizations, unions and any other group that wishes to participate.
More than 92,000 people are waiting for the gift of life. Each day, about 74 people receive an organ transplant. However, 17 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs. Thousands more need tissues and marrow. Blood that can make possible these and other vital medical procedures also is in critically short supply. Americans can help.
Goals of the organ donation initiative include guidelines for automated registries of organ and tissue donors; organ and tissue donation curriculum for use in driver's education programs and other high school classes; a "Gift of Life Donor" medal to acknowledge America's donors; and, a model organ and tissue donor card. The donor card, statistics about organ and tissue donation as well as common myths and facts are available from HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration Web site at www.organdonor.gov.
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