White tours to discuss organ donations in Illinois, nation

By Rosie Powers

For many, the thought of organ donation consists of signing the back of a driver’s license.

But for others, it is something they have eagerly awaited and may save their life.

On Wednesday, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White will visit Danville as part of a statewide tour to promote organ donations, something officials say Illinois does more often than any other state.

“We are currently leading the nation, but there’s always room for improvement,” said David Druker, a spokesman for the secretary of state. “Secretary White is traveling statewide as well as sponsoring more commercials to promote the cause because it should be taken very seriously.”

Druker said there are currently 6.3 million people in the Illinois’ First-Person Consent registry. In order for a donor’s intentions to be honored, his name must be included in the registry.

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However, Brian Quick, assistant professor in Communication, said people nationwide have been left in the dark about the importance of organ donation.

He said he conducted studies on various news programs and their affiliates, including CBS, ABC, and NBC, about how they cover the topic of organ donation.

He examined their news transcripts dated between 1990 and 2005 to see how many times this topic was mentioned in each. Quick said he also examined the context in which it was mentioned and how it was portrayed to the audience.

“The amount of attention given to the topic of organ donation was very troubling,” Quick said. “And if it was mentioned, seldom did they discuss the need for more donors or the long list of those waiting for a transplant.”

Quick said he found that 81.7 percent of these stories mentioned organ donation in a positive way, but less than 15 percent of these stories mentioned the large wait list of people needing transplants.

“If Americans knew the need, people would be more likely to join the registry,” he said. “But many news sources, in an effort to be objective, try and steer away from health issues such as this.”

Quick said this topic often reminds Americans of the reality of death, which people deal with in different ways.

Less than 10 percent of the news program’s stories mentioned how to become a potential donor, and therefore, did not educate the audience on how to contribute to the growing problem, Quick said. He added that almost 102,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, and an average of 18 people per day die waiting for their donation.

Quick said he began the research after his father had gotten two successful organ transplants.

“My dad wouldn’t have been alive to see the rest of his life, and most of mine,” he said. “I hope that I can return the favor and pass my organs on, and improve or save someone’s life.”

Taylor Pattermann, sophomore in FAA, agreed that organ donation should be discussed more often because of its affect on many Americans.

“If my life couldn’t be saved and my organs could be salvaged to save another’s life, I would do it,” Pattermann said. “I can only hope someone would do the same for me.”