Tennessee Donor Services Announces Helping Save More Lives Than Ever Before

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES, January 19, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Tennessee Donor Services (TDS) announces a second consecutive year of record-breaking organ and tissue donation milestones. Thanks to the generosity of Tennesseans and their families, 433 organ donor heroes gave lifesaving gifts resulting in 1,232 organ transplants and set all-time records in the TDS service area in 2021. TDS also ranked 3rd in the nation for the number of organ donor heroes per capita and 5th for the overall number of organ donor heroes. Additionally, 2,468 tissue donor heroes provided gifts of healing and mobility last year.

“Today, 1,200 Americans are alive and spending precious time with their families because of organ transplants resulting from the selfless decisions made by our donor heroes and their families. The health of countless others has been improved through the gift of tissue donation,” states Jill Grandas, Executive Director of Tennessee Donor Services. “We are grateful to the Tennesseans who choose to Be The Gift and register as organ and tissue donors."

Remarkably, these lifesaving milestones come during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For the past two years, the TDS team, in collaboration with community hospital partners, adapted to pandemic-related challenges and worked diligently to continue the miracle of organ and tissue donation. Tennessee Donor Services partners with 153 hospitals and six transplant centers across the state, serving more than 6 million people.

In 2021, for the first time ever, the United States surpassed 40,000 organ transplants in one year, according to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that assists OPOs in matching donated organs with patients on the waiting list. The United States has the highest-performing donation and transplant system in the world, thanks to the dedication and hard work of thousands of dedicated professionals across the country.

Launched last year, TDS is collaborating with other organ procurement organizations across the country to annually achieve 50,000 organ transplants by 2026.

Even with the increasing numbers of organ donor heroes, the number of people in need of transplants continues to rise at a faster pace. Over 106,000 people are currently on the national organ transplant waiting list and more than 3,000 of those are on the Tennessee waiting list. Approximately 20 people in the U.S. die each day because of the need of lifesaving organs.

We encourage everyone to #BeTheGift and register as an organ and tissue donor at BeTheGiftToday.com or Tennessee Driver Services Centers and inform loved ones about their decision.

About Tennessee Donor Services:

An Extraordinary Commitment to Science, Health, and Hope: Tennessee Donor Services a non-profit, organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving and improving lives by connecting organ and tissue donations to the patients who need them. TDS serves nearly five and a half million people in Tennessee and Virginia. For more information on Tennessee Donor Services visit tds.dcids.org.

Mark Johnson
Tennessee Donor Services
+1 615-564-3613
mark.johnson@dcids.org
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