University students can sign up to become organ donors in Free Speech Plaza every day this week in honor of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency’s 25th anniversary.
The parties are hosted by mass communication students who are enrolled in a public relations campaigns class, and are open to all students from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including those from outside of Louisiana.
Megan Juneau, a mass communication senior, said the organization’s goal is to register 105 new donors by the end of the month.
“You just fill out a form, and then we hand them over to LOPA,” Juneau said. “It’s only at the state level, so you can be registered in a lot of different states.”
Mass communication senior Ian Fontenot said the new donors’ names will be put in the LOPA database alongside others who have registered as donors while applying for a driver’s license.
“We have people who say that they weren’t asked at the DMV, or that they weren’t marked down as a donor,” Fontenot said. “We want to let people know that they can sign up in Louisiana even if it isn’t their home state.”
As of Nov. 1, more than 2 million Louisiana residents are registered as organ donors, according to LOPA Community Educator Lori Steele. When a person who is registered dies, their family is consulted about the person’s medical history before donation, she said.
“Louisiana is a first person consent registry, but information about the donor is important,” Steele said. “So we tell people if they sign up to tell their families because it can help save lives.”
Danielle Kelley, a mass communication junior and former Daily Reveille employee, said she is volunteering at the event because her grandmother was a recipient of two lungs, a heart and a kidney.
“She had a very rare lung and heart disease, and I wouldn’t have known her if it wasn’t for the organs,” Kelley said. “I want everyone to understand what the gift of life is, and I’m eternally grateful for the man that made a conscious decision to give up his organs so my grandmother could live.”