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What exactly happens after you check the box at ADOT MVD? And how checking that box may one day save and heal lives.

08/16/2021

If you’ve been to an Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division (ADOT MVD) office anytime over the last several years, chances are you have seen this line with that checkbox next to it:

Be one in 4 million!

More than 4 million people have joined the DonateLifeAZ Registry as an organ, eye and tissue donor this way. After you checked that box, the rest of the work is behind the scenes, which leaves many to wonder, “What exactly happens to my information after that?”

This August, for ADOT MVD Saves Lives Month 2021, let’s remove the mystery.

This is the ADOT MVD donor registration process after an Arizonan checks that box:

  1. An ADOT MVD employee enters that person’s information and their donation registration decision into the ADOT MVD computer system.
  2. A temporary, paper credential is issued, and if the person chose to be a registered donor, the credential features the DONOR ♥.
  3. The insignia is also printed on the permanent credential sent to the client in the mail several weeks later.
  4. An ADOT MVD computer system electronically sends the information of those who registered directly to the DonateLifeAZ Registry automatically daily.
  5. ADOT MVD only submits this information. ADOT MVD employees do not have access to view or edit any information on the DonateLifeAZ Registry.
  6. New registrants receive a letter from Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) detailing their decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor.
  7. If a person changes their decision or doesn’t wish to be a donor, they can call DNA to be removed from the registry or remove themselves from the registry online.

DNA later checks registry status of a person after they have passed away to then determine if this person could save up to eight lives and heal 75 more as an organ, eye and tissue donor. This is made possible because all hospitals in Arizona have to report to Donor Network of Arizona any time someone passes away.

A growing partnership:

ADOT MVD also contracts with independent MVD service locations known as authorized third party (ATP) offices. The ATPs that offer state IDs or driver’s licenses also give customers a chance to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor. They upload their information to the DonateLifeAZ Registry through ADOT MVD and have no access to view or edit such information.

Only a select team of employees at DNA have access to the DonateLifeAZ Registry. No person or entity outside of DNA has access to see or modify the information in the registry. It is strictly confidential.

Don’t want to wait in lines?

Arizonans can join the DonateLifeAZ Registry when they apply for or renew a driver’s license or state ID at an ADOT MVD office. They can also register online at DonateLifeAZ.org.

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