(BEDFORD) – The Lawrence County Commissioners granted Coroner Rob Herr’s request to proclaim April Donate Life Month.
Herr says the proclamation will do three things:
- Recognize the benefits to recipients of donations and the bright futures they have after receiving a transplant
- Celebrates the generosity of people who choose to become organ donors and encourage registration to donate tissues and organs
- To have families communicate with loved ones about being a donor and making their wishes known before a tragic event
- The proclamation is an opportunity to celebrate our county’s organ, eye, and tissue donors and to inspire more people to say yes to donation.
Currently, there are nearly 121,000 Americans on the waiting list for an organ transplant.
“When a person donates locally they can save between 50 to 100 people,” Coroner Herr says. “This proclamation will help bring attention to the benefit of donating.”
Herr works closely with Indiana Donor Network, whose mission is saving and enhancing the quality of life through organ and tissue donation. The Indiana Donor Network is the federally designated organ procurement organization for Indiana and a certified tissue and eye recovery agency.
As such, they play several roles in the process of organ, tissue, and eye donation working closely with the donor families, transplant surgical teams and hospital staff, and the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Herr says the county morgue serves as a central location for the organization to do organ and tissue recovery for the southern part of the state.
