While Wisconsin continually ranks high among organ and tissue donation in the nation, Milwaukee County ranks 69 out of 72 Wisconsin counties.
"Wisconsin is one of the top donor states in the country, year after year," Olsen said. "It's usually the state as a whole that's renewed, not individual cities."
Each year, the number of organ transplants needed increases by an average of 10,000 people while the number of transplants actually performed remains the same, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing's Web site.
Vital organs are recovered from patients who are declared brain dead but have circulation and are on ventilator support, while tissues are recovered from patients who have cardiac death, according to Diane Dressler, a clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing.
Dressler said urban areas usually have lower donation rates compared to rural areas.
"Donations tend to be down because of lack of public education on the subject," said Margaret Bull, a College of Nursing professor.
About 37 percent of county drivers say "yes" to organ and tissue donation on the back of their driver's license, according to a Wisconsin Coalition on Donation press release. Of those drivers, about 50 percent are females and 42.3 percent are males.
"The main reason Milwaukee is lower than most counties in the state is because of the heavy minority population. Minorities tend to be more reluctant to take donation steps," said Tim Olsen, president of Wisconsin Coalition on Donation.
The organization, which has about 270 volunteers, provides education about organ and tissue donation to high school groups, including driver's education classes and church groups.
Most of the volunteers are donors or transplant patients, Olsen said.
He said by working at increasing awareness and public education about donating throughout the state, the organization thinks people will be more likely to want to donate.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing's Web site, there are currently 87,049 candidates on a waiting list for organ transplants and another name is added to the national transplant waiting list every 13 minutes.
To get on the waiting list, a patient must contact a hospital and learn as much about them that best fits the patient's needs. Then, the patient must be evaluated by the hospital's transplant team to determine if the person is a prime transplant candidate. If the hospital's transplant team decides the person is a good candidate, the person is put on a waiting list that has an unknown time frame, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing's Web site.
"More than 1,500 people in Wisconsin alone await an organ transplant and one of them dies, on average, every three days," Olsen said.
Olsen said there were about 24,000 organ transplants in the country last year, plus about a million tissue transplants.
Students can be a big help, according to Olsen. On average, over 58 percent of organ donors are between 16 and 19. The second highest group is between 20 and 39.
In Wisconsin, 46 percent of nearly 4.3 million driver's license and ID holders have said "yes" to donation and 46 percent have said "no," with 8 percent not responding.
"By signing the back of a person's driver's license and notifying their family of their wishes to donate, students can take the necessary steps for donation," said Olsen.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Dec. 9 2004.