'Check Your Heart' campaign urges Michiganders to add Gift of Life symbol to driver's licenses
Gift of Life Michigan urges residents to check their heart in new campaign
The Check Your Heart campaign urges Michiganders to check their drivers license or state ID and look for the red heart symbol which indicates that they signed up on the donor registry.
FOX 2 - A new Gift of Life Michigan effort is working to save lives through organ donation by increasing awareness.
The Check Your Heart campaign urges Michiganders to check their drivers license or state ID and look for the red heart symbol which indicates that they signed up on the donor registry.
"We know that most people support organ and tissue donation 90 percent," said Dorrie Dils, president and CEO Gift of Life Michigan. "Right now only 58 percent of Michiganders are in the registry.
"We really want individuals to 'check their heart' to make sure they are a donor on their license. We think people have just not taken the opportunity to say yes."
The campaign's goal is to add one million people to the organ donor registry within the next three years.
"It is meaningful - if something were to happen to you, the opportunity to save someone else’s life is very powerful, and people are dying every day waiting for that transplant that maybe, doesn’t come."
Gift of Life Michigan understands that the act of donating usually means loss of life for the donator, so on Monday volunteers were continuing the tradition of making comfort blankets.
"The comfort blanket was an idea of one of our donor moms had, to create something we could give to our donor families at the time they lost their loved one," said Kim Zara, Gift of Life Michigan.
April is National Donate Life Month and a flag raising ceremony was also held Monday as Gift of Life Michigan kicked off the campaign.
If you would like to learn more about Organ and tissue donation go to giftoflifemichigan.org