State and local efforts are ramping up the drive to get more New Yorkers registered for organ donation.
Governor Andrew Cuomo declared Tuesday Organ Donor Enrollment Day.
About half the national population is registered as an organ donor, but in New York it’s less than a quarter.
Transplant recipients, their families, and medical professionals used the occasion to encourage people in person and online to register to donate. The social media campaign uses #passlifeon on Twitter and Instagram.
Rob Kochik is the Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network. He says some patients wait years for a matching organ transplant.
"We think that this is a health care crisis with a cure, because we know that if more people had conversations that more people would be able to donate," says Kochik.
He encourages people to register and talk to their families about their wishes to donate their organs after death.
New Yorkers can register for organ donation on the state website.