WORKPLACE PARTNERSHIP for LIFEAs
of December 1, 2002, more than 3,500 corporations, organizations, and associations
have accepted Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson's invitation
to create a "donation friendly America" by joining the HHS Workplace
Partnership for Life program. Through this initiative, participants offer employees
or members an opportunity to learn about,discuss, and make decisions concerning
the donation of organs, tissue, marrow and blood. Many partners have created innovative
donation awareness programs, and this site offers some good examples of these
successful efforts. We have a wide range of partners of every size in locations
all across America, and perhaps one of them has designed a promotion program that
will work for you. This site is for us to learn from and share with each other.
Let us know what you are doing. We look forward to hearing from you. AETNA
is providing donation information at wellness fairs and making organ/tissue/marrow
donation information available at blood drives. Employees will be informed about
donation via company newsletter, e-mail communications, internal web site and
special mailings. Materials about donation are distributed through AETNA's Diverse
Employee Networks, every AETNA Volunteer Council throughout the Nation, and six
regional Emerging Markets Heads. AETNA headquarters is referring all AETNA offices
to this web site for a list of organ procurement organizations available to help
with local awareness programs. AMERICAN COLLEGE
of HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVES (ACHE) has a donation icon on the home page of
its web site (www.ACHE.org) which leads to
a message from the COO/System Executive Vice President, and links to 11 donation
related sites. An organ/tissue donation slogan follows the e-mail employee signature
line and is included on fax cover sheets and the "on-hold" messaging
system. An article on donation is included in each new member packet and the November/December
2001 issue of Healthcare Executive contains an article on organ/tissue
donation. AMERICAN CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATION
(ACA) included a one-page article by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson in
the November/December 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Chiropractic
Association and featured a story of two ACA members who are organ transplant
recipients. Each has agreed to be a spokesperson in the ACA/HHS effort to increase
donation. ACA's membership newsletter has included an article and detailed plans
on Workplace Partnership participation to encourage their members to join.
ACA also included a fact sheet, "Donate the Gift of Life,"in
its member newsletter (readership approximately 11,000). Included with the article
were a donor card, Q&A's about donation, and the suggestion that members photocopy
and place fact sheets in waiting rooms. Acting Surgeon General Kenneth P. Moritsugu,
M.D., spoke about the importance of donation to ACA's National Legislative Conference
in Washington in March 2001. BLUE CROSS/BLUE
SHIELD of TENNESSEE has launched an education campaign to inform employees
of benefit coverage for transplants and create donation awareness with sessions
that reached a total of nearly 3,000 employees at three offices in Chattanooga
and one in Nashville. Session participants will receive Blue Jean Casual
stickers allowing them to wear blue jeans to work on a day of their choice. The
stickers incorporate the Gift of Life Donation Initiative ribbon/heart
logo. DAIMLERCHRYSLER will provide
donation information to all employees through posters and its newsletter, DC
TIMES.. In addition, inner company DCTV, with screens by elevators and
lunch rooms, will air information on donation in all manufacturing plants. ESSEX
COUNTY, NEW JERSEY was the first local government entity to join the Workplace
Partnership. The Essex County Chief Executive pledged to make employees aware
of the benefits of donation at an event attended by government officials, New
Jersey donation network officials, and Essex County employees who are organ or
tissue donation recipients or awaiting a transplant. GENERAL
MOTORS/UAW has a model program, Life Match, a joint recruitment effort
of GM/UAW, that has added 3,000 employees (25 percent of whom are from diverse
backgrounds), to the National Marrow Donor Program. Other companies are now using
the GM/UAW model to promote donation in their workplaces. NATIONAL
BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS, the Nation's largest fraternal organization,
joined the Workplace Partnership in August 2001. Beginning in 2003, an organ and
tissue donor card will appear on the reverse side of all Elk membership cards.
NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION has posted on
its web site a letter supporting donation from NSA's president. The letter, reached
by clicking on the ribbon heart donation symbol on the home page, urges members
to make a personal decision about donation and to mention donation during public
presentations. NSA also placed an "NSA Gift of Life Donation Awareness Campaign"
card, which includes two donor cards, in the January/February issue of "Professional
Speaker." |