FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski
626-8404/441-7638

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap to mark Donate Life Month at statehouse

AUGUSTA ? In recognition of Donate Life Month, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap will be joining Gov. Paul LePage and others on Friday to promote Maine?s organ donor registry.

"To give the?gift of life is a decision we can all make before that moment of unexpected disaster," said Dunlap. "The possibility of saving lives is there for all of us."

Donate Life New England will host the press conference on Friday, April 3 at 10 a.m. in the Maine State House Hall of Flags. Individuals and families who have been personally touched by organ and tissue donation will be speaking.

Also attending will be Kenneth Albert, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, members of the Maine Organ and Tissue Donation Council, legislators and representatives of the New England Organ Bank.

In New England, 731 lives were saved in 2014 as a result of organ donation and thousands of others had their lives enhanced through tissue donation. The event on Friday will provide an opportunity to recognize the importance of organ donation by hearing directly from those who have received or continue to wait for lifesaving transplants, as well as the families of individuals who chose to be donors.

Maine residents can sign up for the organ donor registry at their local Bureau of Motor Vehicles office, or online at maine.gov/sos/bmv/donatelife.

New England Organ Bank is the federally-designated, nonprofit procurement organization responsible for the surgical recovery of organs and tissues for transplant throughout the New England region. For more information, visit www.DonateLifeNewEngland.org.