DUBLIN – Her award says hero.
Gaye Davis is appreciative, but she’s also got perspective on the inaugural Donate Life North Carolina Hero Award.
“The real heroes are those who have given the ultimate sacrifice — their organs,” Davis said. “Without those decisions, we would not even be talking about the award.”
That said, someone had to be the driver for a county with organ donor registration once at 7 percent now hitting 37.6 percent.
“Teachers across North Carolina improve the lives of their students, but Gaye takes it to a new level,” Deanna Mitchell said in a news release. She’s the executive director of Donate Life North Carolina. “She is saving lives every day by inspiring her community members to join the organ donor registry. We think that makes her pretty heroic indeed.”
Davis got started in earnest when she met Tiffiana Elmore at a workshop in Winston-Salem in 2016. She’s the program manager for teen and DMV Outreach at Donate Life NC, and the one who nominated Davis.
“She met me and said Bladen County was 97th in the state,” Davis said. “It’s part of our North Carolina standards to teach organ donations.
“I’ve always had the red heart on my license for a long time, and so have my children.”
Davis spoke with community groups, and then made it the theme of the 2017 DREAM team, the high school athletes at West Bladen who focus on a single project throughout the year.
Health fairs, bulletin boards, commercials, T-shirts and a donor registration drive followed. As did an increase in donor registrations.
Davis isn’t necessarily typical when it comes to the evolution of her passion. She’s not had, nor has a family member had, such a life-changing experience, though she says she does know of co-workers and family friends.
“You don’t need the body when you die, you get a new one,” she said. “Why not help people when you can? You never know when your family will need an organ.”
Davis is in her 13th year at West Bladen. She came to the school while still a respiratory therapist at Bladen County Hospital. She continued to work as a PRN — meaning as necessary; PRN is from the Latin pro re nata — until a couple of years ago.
“My next goal is to reach the minorities, to get those to register and get involved more,” Davis said. “The minority rate is very low in our county, across the state as a matter of fact.”
To become an organ donor, register at the Division of Motor Vehicles when getting a driver’s license, or go online to donatelifenc.org/register. Registration can also be done at registration drives.
Davis says it takes two minutes, can save up to eight lives and affect 50 people.
“I don’t think people realize whom you can impact,” she said. “It’s not racial barriers, financial barriers — we’re all the same once you look beneath the skin.”
A new drive, she says, starts in the spring. But at any time, she gladly volunteers to speak to any organization or entity.
It’s a straightforward approach, no trendy “elevator pitch” or any of the like.
“I state facts, watch a few video clips, and talk about what if it was your child?” Davis said. “Or someone down the hallway had an organ to give? It’s about giving, and not receiving.
“It’s our obligation to help everybody we can.”
Gaye Davis coaches volleyball at West Bladen High School, and has helped raise the county’s 7 percent rate of organ donors to 37.6 percent through several means of awareness.