Richard Darling, DDS, Named NASW’s 2003 Public Citizen of the Year

Washington — The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is pleased to name Richard Darling, DDS, as the 2003 Public Citizen of the Year for his work with organ transplant patients.

Dr. Darling is a dentist from southern California who contracted an extremely aggressive form of Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion following a car accident. He has personally survived a coma and has undergone three liver transplants. Because of his own near death experience, Dr. Darling founded, and is co-moderator of, the Coachella Valley Hepatitis C Liver Disease and Transplant Support Group, which provides support, promotes education, generates awareness, and advocates for quality medical care for all people with liver disease. Through his own experiences, he is able to teach other patients how to find strength through their own spiritual awareness, unselfishly providing transplant patients with strength and encouragement.

Dr. Darling is also a founder of ProrateNIH — a national organization whose goal is the proration of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). If a disease kills large number of Americans, proration dictates it shall receive the most research monies. A disease that takes the lives of the second largest number of Americans shall receive the second largest amount of NIH funding, and so on. Only by proration can a fair and equitable distribution of NIH research monies be achieved

As a member of the Board of Directors of the United Organ Transplant Association, Dr. Darling speaks publicly to promote organ donation and to clarify the facts and myths regarding the “Gift of Life.” Each year, approximately 82,000 people in the United States wait for organ transplants. Thousands in the U.S. will die while waiting, compared to Spain, which has the highest donation rate in the world. Living liver donorscan give just part of their livers to a recipient, and, in six to 12 weeks, the sections in both donor and recipient will grow into whole livers Dr. Darling strives to educate the public that, as organ donors, they can save eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 50 others with tissue donation

Based on the belief that he has personally been blessed, Dr. Darling feels a responsibility to give back to the community and to patients waiting for lifesaving organ donations. He spends hours in the Loma Linda University Medical Center Liver Transplant Intensive Care Unit, where he lifts patient’s spirits, educates them about what to expect in the operating room, and helps them focus on the positive. Dr. Darling has made significant contributions to the health and welfare of many who hope for the “Gift of Life.”

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 145,000 members. It promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families and communities through advocacy.