November 19, 2018:  High schools are at the forefront of organ donor education, and engaging students is an important part of LifeQuest’s mission to give every individual the option to donate. Connecting with teenagers on their turf brings context to the overall conversation and generally has a positive effect. Classroom visits also result in a better opportunity for connection, communication and collaboration with teachers and students. What’s more, high school outreach creates an opportunity to arm teenagers with facts so that they can make well-informed decisions about whether to donate, not impulsive ones.

Dewayne Purifoy and Lillian Spell at Godby High School

The idea of organ donation can be scary and confusing to young people who may be misinformed or unaware. Myths about the process may discourage them from registering to donate the life-saving gifts of their organs. By partnering with schools, we can move beyond false public perceptions. Talking to teenagers directly builds trust and provides a chance to answer individual questions and concerns. On occasion, organ recipients and donor family members come along to share powerful stories of hope that help bridge the gap between misconception and reality.

Why talk to teenagers? By law, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) is required to ask anyone applying for a learner permit or driver license if they want to join the organ and tissue donor registry. This includes 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds. The idea is to give teens the autonomy to make their own decision. Many consider it an honor to register as an organ donor on their road to independence, even if a parent or guardian still must give permission in the event of a tragedy. Signing up to be a donor can start an important conversation at home and elsewhere.

Having spent time in the classroom, it is apparent that most teenagers are unable to explain why they said yes or no to donation when obtaining a license. Many do not recall whether or not they even checked the box. Others let a parent decide for them. Clarifying how organ donation works highlights the fact that transplantation is one of the most regulated fields of health care today, and it gives students a chance to make their decision long before walking into the driver license office. It also broadens students’ perspectives and underscores the privilege of having the freedom to choose.

Libby Smith speaks at Wakulla High School.

Modern tech-savvy teenagers are busier than ever and preoccupied with what is in front of them. Given that 95 percent of people in the United States support organ donation, but only 54 percent register, it is vital that we give teenagers opportunity to pause, step back and see the bigger picture when considering organ donation. For now, the best place to do it is in the classroom.

“I think I can, I think I can.” That was the motto of The Little Engine That Could.

Gulf County Tax Collector’s offices recently took a leaf out of the classic children’s book that teaches the value of optimism and hard work. With an organ donor sign-up rate averaging 67 percent in April, they finished third in the Florida Panhandle – an outcome usually attained by larger, more urban areas. The average donor designation rate among Florida tax collector offices is 52 percent.

Gulf County Tax Collector Shirley Jenkins and staff were treated to an office pizza party for their achievement.

I’m proud to see my staff recognized for the wonderful life-changing work they do every day,” said Jenkins, who oversees a workforce of 10.

Employees at the Wewahitchka office

Nine employees, including Jenkins, are assigned to the main office located inside the Gulf County Courthouse in Port Saint Joe. Two employees work from a small satellite office in Wewahitchka. Gulf is one of a small number of counties to be under two time zones, Central and Eastern.

Gulf County’s triumph is particularly impressive given the size and scope of the competition. The small coastal community outpaced tax collectors in 33 counties with just a handful of employees. Percentage-wise, they finished neck and neck behind behemoths like Walton County (68.2 percent), population 36,500, and St. Johns County (67.1 percent), population 227,000, respectively. Gulf County has 15,800 full-time residents.

Like The Little Engine That Could, Gulf County’s formula for success is simple and selfless. Eleven professionals in two offices asked one question amid their daily routine, “Do you want to be an organ donor?”

“We take the time to talk with our customers and explain to them,” said Danette Medley, a tag and title clerk in the Wewahitchka office.

Donate Life Florida celebrates National Donate Life Month in April. Local, regional and national activities are designed to honor and recognize those who have saved lives through donation and encourage others to register as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Ninety-five percent of Florida’s donors register through the tax collector offices and Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles when completing driver license applications. About 114,000 people are on the national organ transplant waiting list. One donor can potentially save up to eight lives.

Florida’s donor registry is the third largest in the nation due in large part to the generous work tax collector employees do behind the scenes every day.

March 12, 2018: More than anything Libby Smith wants to thank the family of the 24-year-old woman who donated her heart and saved Libby’s life. But how do you thank someone you’ve never met for a gift you can never repay?

“I never expected to feel like this,” Smith said, fumbling for the right words as she struggled aloud with the unthinkable. “What if they don’t want to meet me?”

“Then we’ll just be grateful,” said Graham, her husband of 47 years.

Smith’s selfless desire is real. Like many who receive organ transplants, she yearns to connect with her donor family to share progress and show appreciation. While families are encouraged to write each other, correspondence is managed, takes time, and remains anonymous unless both sides agree to meet.

“I wouldn’t want to do anything to step on their privacy,” Smith said.

Still bewildered by how her world has forever changed, Smith cannot begin to explain her gratitude, so she is living a life of service instead.

Just five months after receiving her heart transplant at Mayo Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, Smith passionately promotes the urgent need to register organ donors. Between doctor visits and biopsies, she trained as a LifeQuest volunteer and speaks often in schools with the single hope of making her donor family proud.

“I never thought this would happen to me,” she recently told students at Wakulla High School in Crawfordville, Florida, where she was invited back to share her story a second time.

As a precaution, Smith carried hand sanitizer and wore a gingham surgical mask in the hallways to ward off germs during one of the worst flu seasons on record. She has always tried to stay a step ahead.

At 36, Smith was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, a hereditary condition that causes the heart muscle to weaken. Doctors said she would need a heart transplant to survive. Determined to beat the odds she exercised, took vitamins and enrolled in stem-cell research. Despite her best effort, doctors implanted a pacemaker in Smith’s chest.

The turning point came when Smith worked as a wedding consultant. While it is normal for the bride’s heart to skip a beat during nuptials, it is not for the wedding planner’s. Doctors noticed a pattern when Smith worked the big events. The stress of it all nearly stopped her heart. She quit her job, underwent evaluation, and was placed on the national organ transplant list for five months. She received her new heart on August 25, 2017.

Since then Smith does everything with her donor family in mind. What she eats, how she treats others, and most of all sharing her story of survival. It is all part of getting emotionally psyched up to one day write a letter for which there are no words.

English Author John Bunyan may have summed it up best: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

January 8, 2017:  We are so fortunate to have phenomenal volunteers who work frequently and diligently to share the importance of organ and tissue donation and encourage others to register their decisions to become donors. Our volunteers assist us in countless ways, including presentations, administrative work, craft projects, organ donor registration stations and more.

One of our volunteers, Cliff Gionet, travels far and wide from Gainesville to share his donation testimony. Cliff’s son, Jason, passed when he was 31 years old, and he enhanced countless lives through tissue donation.

Cliff has volunteered more than 120 hours the past 2.5 years for LifeQuest, and he has traveled all over North Florida for the cause, including trips to Perry, Live Oak, Jacksonville, Starke, Ocala and Cross City. Cliff has shared his story with a range of audiences, including church congregations, high school classes, civic clubs, mother-daughter dinners and workplaces.

“Volunteering has helped me because my focus changed from a sense of complete devastation and loss after Jason died to a sense of greater purpose and meaning for the years I have left,” Cliff said. “There is no greater gift one human can give to another than life.”

There are no words to express how much we appreciate Cliff’s hard work and that of all of our volunteers who promote the Gift of Life. We thank you all for your dedication and passion.