Intermountain Donor Services, Utah’s organ recovery agency, reached unprecedented donor rates during the past year. Utah ranks in the top 10 percent of organ recovery agencies in the nation for donor consent rates. In 2005, the organ donation consent rate in the state was 83 percent, where the national average is only 55 percent. Concerning the Utah Donor Registry, 65 percent of citizens have said ‘yes’ to organ and tissue donation.

“Numbers mean little until you realize that 213 people received life-saving organ transplants in 2005, because Utahns support organ donation,” said Tracy Schmidt, executive director for Intermountain Donor Services. “Our high consent rates is due in part to the hospitals stepping up and notifying us when a death occurs. Donation is so dependant on timing after someone has died, so the hospitals deserve recognition for doing their part.”

Utah’s transplant centers include: LDS Hospital, UofU Hospital, and Primary Children’s Medical Center. Patients waiting for a liver transplant in Utah are twice as likely to receive it within one year, than the national average.

Utah has a Good Samaritan Living Kidney Donor Program which asks citizens to donate a kidney to a stranger. Twenty-two people have saved a stranger’s life through this program. Businesses and the government offer incentives such as 30-days paid leave or a state tax credit for living donors.

Utah has 250 people currently waiting for an organ transplant and thousands waiting for tissue transplants. In 2005, there were 66 organ donors and 522 tissue donors in the state. Nationally, there are 91,500 waiting for an organ transplant and 17 people die each day, because of the organ shortage. The Utah Donor Registry is reached at 866-YES-UTAH or www.yesutah.org

Intermountain Donor Services, The Utah Donor Registry and the good Samaritan Living Kidney Donor Program are not programs within the Utah Department of Health.

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