Texas Department of State Health Services

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has launched a revised online organ donor registry to make it easier for Texans to register as organ tissue and eye donors.

The Glenda Dawson Donate Life – Texas Registry at www.DonateLifeTexas.org has information about organ donation and instructions for registering online.

Before the registry there was no official state list in Texas of people who wanted to consent to being donors. For those who register the list can help ensure their wishes are carried out after they die.

“One donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 50 people with gifts of organs tissues and eyes” said Evelyn Delgado DSHS assistant commissioner for Family and Community Health Services. “The Web site makes it easier for people to get the facts about organ donation and decide if registering as a donor is right for them.”

Delgado said the Web-based registry helps streamline the donation process at a time when medical decisions and procedures must happen quickly. The registry helps make it faster to find out if a person who dies had wanted to donate organs tissues and eyes she said.

Registration online takes less than five minutes. Donor information is protected. Only authorized organ procurement organizations and tissue and eye banks can access registrant information.

There is a critical shortage of organs available for transplants with more than 7000 people waiting for life-saving organs in Texas. Delgado said more than 400 people in Texas died last year waiting for organ transplants.

The registry is named in memory of State Rep. Dawson a kidney transplant recipient who championed the cause of organ donation. The Texas Legislature mandated the creation of the statewide registry which began Sept. 1 2006 and stipulated in May that it be renamed in Dawson’s memory.