You Can Help

Letter to Donor Families from: Yilian Fraga, MSW
Community & Donor Family Services Supervisor
University of Miami Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency
Feel free to forward this note to others who can help us ensure these bills are signed.

Dear Donor Families:

Senator Oelrich's and Representative Hays' bills to improve Florida's donor registry have passed in both chambers of the legislature. They now are making their way to Governor Crist's office for his signature.

SB 2630 is the registry improvement bill. It will allow the overburdened AHCA to contract with an outside entity (through an open and impartial process) to not only create a new and improved registry, but also to run it.

SB 2610 is the exemption bill, which will make the registry information exempt from the Sunshine Laws.

It is imperative that the governor sign these bills, so we can get on our way to improving the donor registry in Florida and give more hope to the thousands of patients in need of a life-saving organ transplant and life-enhancing tissue and corneal transplants.

Your help is needed! Please send Governor Crist POSITIVE letters ofencouragement. No need to remind him of last year's veto. That road has been well-traveled. I've listed several points below that you may wish to include in your letters. You don't have to use them all.

A few key points:

● Both bills have passed in the House and Senate. A similar registry bill passed unanimously in 2007, and all of the governor’s concerns with that bill have been addressed in the 2008 bills.

● AHCA is overwhelmed with other healthcare issues and doesn’t have the resources to adequately run the registry. Outsourcing it to an able entity will improve the system.

● The registry desperately needs to be updated. Improving the registry will make it easier for millions of Floridians to join the registry and ultimate save lives.

● Hundreds of patients in Florida are dying each year because there are not enough donor organs for them. Fixing the registry and allowing Floridians easy access to designate their donation decisions will help save lives.

● Signing these bills will help improve Florida’s donor registry and ultimately save lives. When Florida improves its donor registry, it can once again become a national leader among states with effective registries.

It's best to e-mail or fax him, as U.S. mail takes much longer to reach his desk. Hearing from the individuals who have been personally touched by donation and transplantation and who want (and need) these bills to be signed will matter to him. Feel free to forward this note to others who can help us ensure these bills are signed.

Office of the Governor
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Phone: (850) 488-7146 or (850) 488-4441
Fax: (850) 487-0801
E-mail: charlie.crist@myflorida.com

I thank you in advance for your time and attention.

Sincerely,Yilian Fraga, MSW
Community & Donor Family Services Supervisor
University of Miami Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency
1801 NW 9th Avenue Suite 150A
Miami, FL 33136
305-243-7344