Jose Peralta
Sept. 30, 2015 By Michael Florio
State Senator Jose Peralta wants more Queens residents to sign up to be organ donors.
Peralta is joining forces with LiveOnNY, a non-profit organ donor group, as a means to encourage residents to donate their organs upon death.
He will be setting up a table at the US Post Office at 78th Street on Tuesday Oct. 6 to sign people up. His staff will also be asking residents in the 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue vicinity to enroll.
Only 24 percent of New York State residents are registered as organ donors, the lowest rate of the fifty states. That number is well below the national average of 50 percent.
The percentage of registered residents in Queens is even lower, with only 11 percent of eligible residents signed up to organ donors.
“This contributes to a troubling fact: every eighteen hours, a New Yorker dies waiting for a life-saving organ transplant,” a release by Peralta states.
In an attempt to raise those numbers, Peralta’s staff will be hitting the streets in Jackson Heights to raise awareness and enroll Queens residents in the Donate Life Registry.
“Our staff is very excited about participating in an event that will save the lives of countless New Yorkers,” Peralta said. “Organ donation is the ultimate gift a person can make.”
One organ donor can save up to eight lives and the same donor can also save or improve the lives of up to 50 people by donating tissues and eyes, according to Peralta.
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