Natalie R. Benavides is the executive director of Donate Life Maryland, a two-year-old nonprofit that promotes organ, eye and tissue donation. Benavides recently announced that Maryland now has 2 million registered donors. In August, the nonprofit and the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration started the Maryland Donor Registry. The Web site allows donors to specify what they’d like to donate and how they’d like their donations to be used.
How did you get involved in promoting organ donation?
I worked for an organ procurement organization that served the Washington area. I was tremendously moved by the healing the family of a donor undergoes with the extension of a loved one’s life through organ donation. I was also taken with the physical and emotional healing an individual undergoes when they receive the gift of life.
Why have so many choices of organ donation on the registry through the Web site?
The purpose of registry is to allow individuals to be as specific as possible with their end-of-life wishes. Those specific choices are only available on the Web site. If you go just through the MVA, the choices are ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to organ donation. The Web site allows a donor to make specific choices across the board. It’s not just whether they’ll donate eyes only, or organs only, but also if their donations can be used for research, transplants or both.
Maryland has just reached the 2 million mark, how does that compare with other states?
Our effort across the country it to reach a 50-percent designation rate. Maryland is at 44 percent. … Each state has different circumstances and number of donors depends on everything from socioeconomic factors to each state’s motor vehicle administration.
How does the MVA rate?
We’re lucky because we have a great relationship with the MVA. The MVA is key in our success of sharing the donor message.
— Freeman Klopott
