April is National Donate Life Month, a national observance highlighting the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation. Each year Phillips County shows their support by sharing resources and posting information on donation in the driver license office.

This year, Phillips County is joining five hospitals and three driver license offices in counties across the State in raising the Donate Life flag at the Phillips County Courthouse to honor organ and tissue donors and recipients from our community, raise awareness and acknowledge the support of the 72 percent of residents of our county who have signed up on the Donate Life Colorado donor registry.

In 2021, 781 individuals obtaining or renewing their driver license or state ID through the Clerk and Recorder’s office said Yes to joining the Donate Life Colorado Organ, Eye and Tissue Donor Registry. This demonstrates support well above the national average of 58 percent.

Every April, hospitals across the United States raise Donate Life flags and fly them all month long as part of the month-long National Donate Life celebration that honors the generosity of organ, eye and tissue donors and their families and commemorates all transplant recipients and those still waiting for a lifesaving transplant.

“This year, Donor Alliance invited our partners at county driver license offices to join hospitals across the state in flying the Donate Life flag,” said Jennifer Prinz, Chief Executive Officer & President at Donor Alliance, the federally designated non-profit organization that facilitates organ and tissue donation in Colorado and most of Wyoming. “Donate Life flags serve as a nationwide display of unity, remembrance and hope, while honoring those affected by donation and transplantation since 2006.”

Colorado continues to be one of the most generous states in the country when it comes to organ, eye, and tissue donation. In 2021, Donor Alliance recorded another remarkable year for organ and tissue donation and transplantation by honoring the generosity of 234 organ donors providing 642 life-saving transplants. The organization honored the generosity of 2,082 tissue donors and their families to recover the lifesaving and healing tissue that will provide bone and skin grafts to thousands of recipients in need. There are still around 1,500 people in Colorado on the transplant waiting list. Saying Yes and registering to be an organ, eye and tissue donor when obtaining or renewing a driver license or state ID supports the mission to save the lives of our neighbors through organ, eye and tissue donation.

Learn more at DonateLifeColorado.org.