ALL SHOULD GIVE SERIOUS STUDY TO GIFT OF ORGANS

Despite record high procurement of organs and tissue last year, officials of Mid-America Transplant Association say the need for donated organs and tissues is greater than ever. Currently, 484 people within the association's service area of Missouri, southern Illinois and northeastern Arkansas are waiting for transplants, a number 50 percent greater than a year ago. Nationally, more than 25,000 people are on waiting lists.

This week, National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, is an appropriate time to seriously consider what most of us probably have given only token thought to before: the giving of vital organs or tissues upon our death so that someone else may better enjoy life, or even stay alive.

The transplant association, designated by Medicare to coordinate procurement of vital organs in hospitals within its service area, in 1991 procured 266 vital organs from a record number 80 donors and imported another 119 vital organs. The Mid-America Eye and Tissue Bank, which coordinates the procurement of eyes and bone-soft tissue in the same region, in 1991 procured record numbers of bone-soft tissue donors (141); heart valve donors (93); and eye donors (650).

The numbers speak well for the concern expressed by donors for others and for the growing awareness of the need for donors of vital organs. Yet, even with increased giving, on average, one man, woman or child dies every six hours in the United States while waiting for a suitable matching organ to become available.

Just one donor can do so much for so many people. A single organ donor can save or improve the lives of 40 to 50 people by donating up to seven vital organs: including the heart, both kidneys, both lungs, the liver and pancreas. The same donor can leave two eyes for corneal transplants, bone, soft tissues, heart valves and saphenous vein to benefit 30 to 40 others.

The association attributes the growth in the waiting list to advances in medical technology. Because transplant surgery has become so routine and so successful, more people are being considered as transplant candidates and being placed on waiting lists. And the overwhelming majority of organ transplant recipients are able to resume a normal, productive life shortly after surgery.

We join the association in urging everyone to consider donation of vital organs and tissues. First discuss the matter with family members, and, if you choose to be a donor, make sure your wishes are known by them. Then simply sign the back of your driver's license, authorizing procurement of organs and tissue upon your death.