Wisconsin's organ registry grows from zero to 2.6M

• 2.6 million people in Wisconsin are registered organ%2C tissue and eye donors.
• About 59 percent of Wisconsin residents 18 and older are registered.
• Wisconsin is 23rd in nation for registration of people 18 and older.
• Donor advocates would like to see the state%27s rate eventually approach 75 percent.

Five years ago, Wisconsin had zero registered organ donors as the state transitioned into a new system that includes legal consent for the lifesaving medical procedure.

Today, about 2.6 million residents are registered as organ, eye and tissue donors. Despite that success, there are still some 2 million eligible who have not signed up. Nationally, the state is slightly above average in the percentage of residents on its registry.

"Until five years ago we didn't have a registry we could use for consent or authorization," said Trey Schwab, outreach coordinator with University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation. "In every situation, no matter if a person had a dot on their license or not, until five years ago we had to go get consent from the family or legal next of kin at the time someone passed away. ... We had 2.3 million in our old system when we had to throw it all out and start from zero."

Advocates hope outreach efforts, especially during Donate Life Month in April, will push the state's rate closer to 75 percent. Gannett Wisconsin Media is teaming up with Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb to help build awareness Wisconsin. Cobb toured the hospital in late March and recorded a number of video public service segments for the program.

"I want to raise awareness and make people more interested in finding out how they can help, and hopefully we can get more donors added to the list," he said during that visit.

Cobb has been a registered donor since he was 16.

"The way it was explained to me, if something were to happen, a car wreck or something, and I was to die, my organs would be given to someone in need," the Tennessee native said. "I'm all about giving to other people. It's important for us to help others. For me to be gone from this world, hopefully I will be able to impact somebody's life by donating my organs to them."

By the numbers

About 59 percent of people in Wisconsin 18 and older are registered as organ, tissue and eye donors, according to figures from Donate Life America. That places the state 23rd in the nation. The rank is a little higher, 19th, when residents older than 15.5 years are included in the statistics. State law allows teens to register as part of the process of receiving their driver's license.

Montana boasts the highest rate at 87 percent with Puerto Rico (19 percent) the lowest. The national average is 50.9 percent.

Wisconsin has the second youngest registry, preceded only by Puertro Rico's which was established in 2011. Schwab equates registration efforts to planting a tree: it takes time to see the results in the number of transplants happening around the country.

"You're not going to see a lot the first few years, but as we continue to fill these registries we need to look five, ten, years down the road," said Schwab, who is also vice chair of the Donate Life America Advisory Committee. "As we get the percentage of people who are registered higher and higher, that will inevitably have to increase the number of transplants that will be done."

Donate Life Wisconsin says about 4,000 lives have been saved through organ transplants since 2010, while others have benefited from improved sight through eye and tissue donation.

State population size, demographics, and income factor into rankings.

For instance, California has more than 11.7 million people registered as donors (the highest in the nation by almost 4 million people), but comes in 43rd in the nation when based on percentage of population who are registered (40 percent), according to numbers from Donate Life America.

Aaron Kelchner, marketing, communications and data coordinator with Donate Life America, said efforts are ongoing to reach as many segments of the American population as possible.

"Minority outreach is very important, and trying to get at hard-to-reach donors that don't frequent the DMV because they might not have a car," he said. "In terms of online registration, we're trying to pursue ways we can improve the registration infrastructure nationally."

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Education

One of the major partners in the state's registry efforts has been the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which offers donor registration and information as part of the driver license renewal process.

Applicants for licenses and state identification cards can check a box on the application paperwork registering as a donor.

"They have made it really simple and effective for us," said Joanne Grunau, president of Donate Life Wisconsin. "But we really do want to reach those people before they get to the DMV."

Part of a wider education process is aimed at getting information to, and registering, individuals outside of the ID and licensing process.

"We really try to educate people ... we're not trying to push people or coerce them into signing up," she said. "I think most people, once they understand and have any of their fears put to rest, are in favor of this, and our numbers show it."

Filling organ gap

Dr. Ajay Sahajpal, director of the transplant and hepatobiliary program with Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, expects the divide between available organs and people in need will continue to be an issue.

"I don't think the donor rate is going to change,," Sahajpal said. "I'm hoping with strong education it will get a little bit better."

The Procurement and Transplantation Network says there are about 123,000 people nationwide in need of a transplant. About 2,500 of those people are in Wisconsin.

St. Luke's is one of four transplant programs in the state along with the University of Wisconsin, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Those programs are helped by hospitals, like Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah and Hospital Sisters Health System St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, where donation becomes an option when all medical avenues to save a patient's life are exhausted.

Dr. Ray Georgen, director of trauma services with Theda Clark, said the hospital sees numerous head injuries, some involving pending brain death or patients who are brain dead.

"Last year, of all the people who were potentially candidates for organ donation, we had a 100 percent donation rate," Georgen said. "It's a very sensitive topic and it doesn't even become an issue until you're in a situation where you know any of the life-saving care you're administering that there's really no chance of the patient surviving,"

Cherie Cadieux, a registered nurse and co-coordinator of St. Vincent's Organ Procurement Team, said being part of that life-saving process is indescribable. She tears up when asked about having contact with donor recipients.

"I like to think families are talking more about donation and families are more open to it than they had been in the past," she said. "We've seen an increase in donations since the registry started. That's because if they signed up on the registry, families know what their loved one wanted."

Georgen said its imperative hospitals like Theda Clark support donation efforts.

"No matter what we do, or whatever culture we create, it's the generosity of the individual donor and their families," Georgen said. "That's what makes Wisconsin a very special place."

— nphelps@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @nathanphelpsPG or Instagram at Nathan_Phelps_PG

On the web

Donor registry (Donate Life Wisconsin): yesIwillwisconsin.com

Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin: froedtert.com/donatelife

University of Wisconsin Transplant Program: uwhealth.org/transplant; and uwhealth.org/organ-donation/organ-and-tissue-donation/10868

Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center: www.aurorastlukes.org

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin: chw.org

HSHS St. Vincent Hospital: stvincenthospital.org

Theda Clark Medical Center: thedacare.org

Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network: optn.transplant.hrsa.gov

Wisconsin Donor Network: www.bcw.edu/bcw/Organ-Tissue-Marrow/Wisconsin-Donor-Network-and-Tissue-Bank/index.htm

BloodCenter of Wisconsin (Wisconsin Donor Network) donation information: bcw.edu/sharinglife

Donate Life America: donatelife.net

Wisconsin Department of Transportation (donor section): dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/drivers/apply/donor.htm

Wisconsin donor registration

To register as an organ, tissue and eye donor, individuals must be older than 15-and-a-half and have a driver's license or state identification. Everyone who authorized donation at the Department of Motor Vehicles after March 29, 2010, is legally registered.

Licenses or identification cards dated before March 29, 2010 (even those with an orange donor dot) can legally register as an organ, tissue and eye donor at: YesIWillWisconsin.com.

Source: Donate Life Wisconsin

Keep watching for more updates throughout May.