EDWARDSVILLE – A new law backed by state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, facilitating local organ donation is receiving acclaim from local advocates. Hoffman and state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, joined representatives from Mid-America Transplant Services (MTS) and local organ donation advocates last week to applaud the passage of the law.
“Organ and tissue donations save lives, and this legislation will improve the donation process in the Metro East area by allowing donations to occur at a state-of-the-art facility in St. Louis,” Hoffman said. “When people choose to donate organs and tissue, they are truly giving the gift of life, and it’s up to us to make sure that gift goes as long way.”
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Working alongside MTS and other advocate of organ and tissue donation, Hoffman and Haine worked to pass House Bill 4120, a new law which improves the tissue and organ donation process in Metro East communities. The bipartisan legislation will allow for a better process for tissue and organ donors by allowing donations to occur at a state-of-the-art facility in St. Louis. Previously, donations had to be made in Illinois because bodies could not be transferred across state lines.
Since 1974, MTS has facilitated the organ and tissue donation process for a service area of 4.7 million people in eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and northeast Arkansas. Committed to an innovative approach, MTS is the first Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) in the nation to utilize an in-house operating room model for organ recovery and the first to operate license offices to increase community support through donor registry enrollment. Located in St. Louis, MTS is a not-for-profit organization and is one of 58 federally designated OPOs of its kind in the United States.
Mid-America organizes tissue and organ donations for 20 Metro East and Southern Illinois counties including St. Clair and Madison.
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