Gift of Life Michigan organ donor shortage caused by pandemic
(FOX 2) - April is National Donate Life Month, a key time for the non-profit Gift of Life Michigan which promotes the need for organ and tissue donations.
"All the plans we've been making since fall of last year, have had to change considerably," said Dorrie Dils, CEO, Gift of Life Michigan.
That's because much of the focus is on the global fight against COVID-19 has forced Gift of Life to switch gears.
"My team has come up with some creative ways to interact with the public and with our community through social media channels," said Dils.
One effort is a Facebook Live event called, Let's Talk Tuesdays.
"We'll be introducing all of our followers and hopefully additional people to all different aspects of organ and tissue donations.
In Michigan there's nearly 3,000 people on the organ donor waiting list. And those who have received an organ say the fight to raising awareness is a key factor in their survival.
"I was at a point of giving up waiting on an organ. Life was really tough," said Lawrence Bailey.
But after seven years on dialysis, Lawrence Bailey was elated to learn that he would receive a kidney transplant thanks to a donor.
Bailey knew without that kidney, things did not look good.
"I would probably be dead and gone," he said.
As people are home sheltering in place, Gift of Life Michigan hopes families will have conversations about becoming an organ and tissue donor. They say it only takes one minute to sign up.
"They can go to our website and there's a link on there and it takes one minute to help save someone's life," said Dils.
"There's really no greater love than when we can give of ourselves so someone else can live," Bailey said.