April Kicks Off National Donate Life Month

Partnership between WC Medical Examiner & Nevada Donor Network Offers Donation Opportunities

Reno, Nev. April 1, 2019. April marks the beginning of National Donate Life Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness about the gift of life made possible through organ, eye and tissue donation. In Washoe County, it also highlights the tremendous success of an innovative tissue and cornea donation program launched more than a year ago.

The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office (WCRMEO) and non-profit organ procurement organization Nevada Donor Network (NDN) teamed up in late 2017 to create a tissue and cornea donation program intended to expand donation opportunities that otherwise would not be possible. “When deaths occur outside of a hospital setting, tissue and cornea donation was not an option until we launched this program,” says Dr. Laura Knight, Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner and Coroner.

Dr. Knight found a partner to bridge this gap in the Nevada Donor Network, who has successfully facilitated similar partnerships with other Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Offices. Since the launch of the program, the partnership between WCRMEO and NDN has allowed for the recovery of healing tissues from 114 heroic tissue donors and sight-restoring corneas from 287 heroic cornea donors.

Throughout National Donate Life Month, Washoe County is helping to educate its employees and residents about what can be made possible through the gift of organ, eye and tissue donation. Registering as a donor is quick and easy. You can register as a hero online by visiting: www.nvdonor.org/washoe.

For more on the tissue donation program, click here.

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