Community Partnerships

	Donate Life Connecticut The Connecticut Coalition for Organ and Tissue Donation, dba, Donate Life Connecticut, is dedicated to the purpose of public education and public awareness for all Connecticut residents concerning the lifesaving benefits of organ and tissue donation. The Network of New England is a founding member of Donate Life Connecticut, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors.

	Health Literacy In 2008, the Network of New England partnered with the National Kidney Foundation of Connecticut, Inc. to educate dialysis providers about the importance of health literacy. Health Literacy Month, celebrated each October, is a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of understandable health information. This month is a time for all health literacy advocates to let the world know why health literacy matters. To learn more about Health Literacy, go to www.healthliteracy.com, or email Helen Osborne at helen@healthliteracy.com or call 508-653-1199.

	5 Diamond Patient Safety Program In April 2008, the ESRD Network of New England (Network 1), in collaboration with Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition (Network 5) announced the 5-Diamond Patient Safety Program to assist dialysis facilities with the improvement of both staff and patient awareness of specific patient safety areas.

	National Kidney Foundation The National Kidney Foundation, a major voluntary nonprofit health organization, is dedicated to preventing kidney and urinary tract diseases, improving the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by kidney disease and increasing the availability of all organs for transplantation.

	New England Donor Designation Collaborative (Donate Life New England Website) In 2005, a regional committe was organized to help achieve the Donate Life America goal of registering 1 million organ, eye and tissue donors nationwide. Partners in the New England Donor Designation Colloborative are: CT Eye Bank Department of Motor Vehicles (CT & MA) Donate Life Connecticut ESRD Network of New England LifeChoice Donor Services New England Organ Bank This initiative fostered the development of the online registery, Donate Life New England, which offers a way to securely and confidentially register as an organ, eye and tissue donor and join over 80 million Americans who have already made the decision to Donate Life!

	Workplace Partnership for Life In 2001, HHS launched the Gift of Life Donation Initiative. One of the strategies in this initiative is the Workplace Partnership for Life, a collaboration where companies and employee groups of all sizes pledge to make information on donation available to employees. Over the years, several major national corporations have become registered members of the Workplace Partnership such as Bank of America, MetLife, Baxter Healthcare and Verizon. Currently, there are well over 12,000 partners enrolled. In April 2005, the ESRD Network of New England enrolled as a member and made a commitement to educate their staff and community partners about the importance of organ and tissue donation and becoming a registered donor. As of 1/13/2009, there are 100,485 candidates on the waiting list. The challenge is to get all ESRD Networks enrolled.