Users can find the organ donor form by clicking the Life Event button and scrolling to the Health and Wellness tab on their Facebook Timeline. (Source: Facebook)For eight months, Patty Bullion has made it her full time job to reunite victims of the April Southeastern tornado outbreak with their memories.
Now that many of the victims have moved on from that day, she says it's time for her to move on, too.More >>
(RNN) - You've already shared your thoughts, photos and locations with your friends on Facebook. Now the social media giant wants you to share your organs.
Starting Tuesday, Facebook users in the U.S. and U.K. can add their organ donor status to their timeline to share when and why they decided to become a donor.
"Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg said in news release Tuesday. "And we believe that by simply telling people that you're an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role."
The site also aims to ease the donor registration process for its millions of users.
"We want to make it simple," Zuckerberg said in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts. "You just put in the state or country that you're from, so that we can help link you to the official registries."
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN, more than 114,000 people in the U. S. are currently waiting for the heart, kidney, lung or liver transplant that will save their lives.
Users can find the organ donor form by clicking the Life Event button and scrolling to the Health and Wellness tab on their Facebook Timeline.
Copyright 2012 the Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WTVM, a Raycom Media Station.
