2012 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 12-042 BY SENATOR(S) Guzman and White, Aguilar, Bacon, Boyd, Brophy, Cadman, Carroll, Foster, Giron, Grantham, Harvey, Heath, Hodge, Hudak, Jahn, Johnston, King K., King S., Lambert, Lundberg, Mitchell, Morse, Neville, Newell, Nicholson, Renfroe, Roberts, Scheffel, Schwartz, Spence, Steadman, Tochtrop, Williams S., Shaffer B.; also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Murray and Pabon, Acree, Balmer, Barker, Baumgardner, Becker, Beezley, Bradford, Brown, Casso, Conti, Coram, Court, DelGrosso, Duran, Ferrandino, Fischer, Gardner B., Gerou, Hamner, Holbert, Hullinghorst, Jones, Joshi, Kagan, Kefalas, Kerr A., Kerr J., Labuda, Lee, Levy, Liston, Looper, Massey, McCann, McKinley, Miklosi, Nikkel, Pace, Peniston, Priola, Ramirez, Ryden, Scott, Singer, Solano, Sonnenberg, Soper, Stephens, Summers, Swalm, Swerdfeger, Szabo, Todd, Tyler, Vaad, Vigil, Waller, Williams A., Wilson, Young, McNulty. CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF APRIL AS "DONATE LIFE COLORADO" MONTH. WHEREAS, April is designated as "National Donate Life Month", which has been observed across the United States since 2003; and WHEREAS, "National Donate Life Month" is a time to honor the generosity of organ, eye, and tissue donors and their families, and to commemorate all transplant recipients in the United States; and WHEREAS, The lives of hundreds of thousands of people are saved each year in the U.S. through organ, eye, and tissue donation, and one donor can help up to 100 people; and WHEREAS, There are currently more than 113,000 people in the U.S. waiting for organ transplants, and in Colorado more than 2,200 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants and thousands more are in need of healing tissue; and WHEREAS, In the U.S., nearly 6,000 people die each year while waiting for a lifesaving organ or tissue donation and, on average, more than 100 Coloradans who are on waiting lists die each year; and WHEREAS, Donor Alliance, a community-based nonprofit organization, is the organ procurement organization in Colorado and most of Wyoming, coordinating with over 100 hospitals, including four transplant centers, throughout the donation service area; and WHEREAS, Donor Alliance boasts a strong record of education and building awareness, which has led Colorado to have among the highest donor designation rates in the country with 67% of eligible driver's license and identification card holders joining the donor registry; and WHEREAS, In 2011, Donor Alliance recovered 12% more organ donors than in 2010, enabling 446 people in Colorado and across the country to receive a lifesaving transplant, thereby removing them from national transplant waiting lists; and WHEREAS, In 2011, Donor Alliance worked with 966 tissue donors and their families to recover lifesaving and healing tissue, providing bone, soft tissue, and skin grafts that will impact thousands; and WHEREAS, In 2011, Donor Alliance engaged in community-based education campaigns in locations across Colorado with historically low rates of donor designation as compared to the rest of Colorado, gathering valuable data about perceptions of donation in these Colorado communities in order to improve public outreach initiatives; and WHEREAS, One of the biggest challenges to increasing donor designation rates is combating the myths that persist about organ, eye, and tissue donation, and Donor Alliance is focused on providing reliable data to educate people about donation; and WHEREAS, In 2012, Donor Alliance is committed to continuing the dialogue about the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation through community-based education, advertising campaigns, and a partnership with the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Revenue, the main entry point for donor designation; and WHEREAS, The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank is the nonprofit organization that recovers donated eye tissue in Colorado and Wyoming in order to fulfill the wishes of eye donors and their families to help another overcome blindness, and provides tissues for transplantation and medical research locally, nationally, and globally; and WHEREAS, The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank recovered 1,876 donors in 2011, a 12.2% increase over 2010; and WHEREAS, These donors provided 1,638 ocular tissue (cornea and sclera) transplants, another 161 tissues were used in medical research, and an additional 511 eye tissues were provided for education and training; and WHEREAS, The donor community in Colorado is robust and has many collaborative partners, including transplant hospitals, advocacy organizations, and state agencies and foundations that all work to further education and awareness of the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation; and WHEREAS, Coloradans can go to www.donatelifecolorado.org to learn more about the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation and to learn how to become an organ and tissue donor; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein: That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, hereby: (1) Designate April as "Donate Life Colorado" month; (2) Acknowledge the important contributions of advocates of organ, eye, and tissue donation and the collective efforts to save the lives of Coloradans through organ, eye, and tissue donation; (3) Express appreciation to the many Coloradans who have pledged to be organ, eye, and tissue donors; and (4) Encourage all Coloradans not currently registered as organ, eye, and tissue donors to learn more about the gift of life. Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to Sue Dunn, President and CEO of Donor Alliance; John P. Harney, Chair of the Governing Board of Directors of Donor Alliance and CEO of the University of Colorado Hospital; Barbara Brohl, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue; Mike Dixon, Senior Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Colorado Department of Revenue; Anastasia Darwish, Executive Director of the American Transplant Foundation; Thomas A. Cycyota, President and CEO of AlloSource; Thomas C. Puckett, President and CEO of Bonfils Blood Center; Mimi Robertson, President and CEO of Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center; Randy Haffner, CEO of Porter Adventist Hospital; Jim Shmerling, President and CEO of Children's Hospital Colorado; Edmund Jacobs, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank; Steven J. Summer, President and CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association; and the Honorable John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado. ____________________________ ____________________________ Brandon C. Shaffer Frank McNulty PRESIDENT OF SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES ____________________________ ____________________________ Cindi Markwell Marilyn Eddins SECRETARY OF CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES