From now until the November 14 the Washoe County Sheriff's Office and Donor Network West are partnering again for their "Second Chance" program.
It is designed to educate Washoe County residents about organ, eye and tissue donation, and encourage more Washoe County residents to register as organ donors.
About 1.6 million Nevadans are currently registered out of 3.1 million in the state, and there are about 700 Nevadans currently waiting for a transplant.
Tissue donors can save close to 75 lives while organ donors can save close to 8.
The WCSO will pull people over for violating traffic laws while also spreading awareness about being an organ donor, trying to get people to register and giving them a second chance, while also letting the driver avoid a ticket.
“We greet them, and we say why we stopped you, and then we point out, todays you’re second chance, we’d like to talk to you about being an organ and tissue donor and the importance and more importantly we hit on those 700 Nevadans that are awaiting a transplant right now,” said Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam.
Even if you're from out of town, you can still register anywhere, because the need is nationwide.
Over 100,000 people in America are waiting on a transplant, and unfortunately about 20 people die every day waiting.
“It’s important for everybody to be an organ or tissue donor because at any point in anyone's life they could also need an organ and the only way for people to receive those is for other people to say yes," said Matt Graves, the Vice President of Tissue Operations at Donor Network West/ "So we encourage as a good citizen, and being just a good human being, we hope that everyone registers to be a donor because they might need one themselves.”
Graves says they've been partnering with the WCSO for 3 years now.
“We’re very fortunate to partner with the WCSO because they’re out in the community just as we are, and they get a unique perspective in terms of meeting with various people throughout the community and we just really appreciate their support in our mission,” said Graves.
Sheriff Balaam explains “So we’re not going to give you a ticket and hopefully this talk about the importance of becoming an organ and tissue donor and hopefully inspiring you to register maybe you’ll consider giving somebody a second chance at life.”
If tragedy strikes and you're an organ donor, then you know your organs will be donated, but Sheriff Balaam says there are some myths about being an organ donor
“There’s always that misconception that if you’re in a tragedy of some sort, that because they see you’re an organ donor or tissue donor they’re not going to give you the proper care and that’s absolutely not true,” said Sheriff Balaam.
To become an organ donor, you can register at the DMV or online and we have the link to register in this article.
