Here's a feel-good statistic for you: Idaho is currently in a national tie for sixth place for percentage of us who are registered organ donors.

Here's an even better statistic: In Kootenai County, 62.92 percent of people asked by the DMV in third quarter of 2013 if they wanted to be organ donors responded with a resounding "yes," putting Kootenai County at close to the top of our state for sign-ups.

Good job, Kootenai. But what's stopping us from zooming to the head of the pack?

Typically it's fear: fear of disrespectful treatment, fear of exploitation, fear of being ushered out of life ahead of time because someone wants your organs and, of course, fear of the unknown.

Here are some basics.

According to Jennifer James, senior chaplain at Kootenai Health, "When a person is declared brain dead, they will remain on a ventilator. Their death certificate, however, will state their official time of death as the time of brain death.

"Only after that person has been declared brain dead can their family be approached about organ and tissue donations. As far as any health professional not providing adequate patient care in order to get a donation, LifeCenter Northwest - a federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization - can't even discuss donations with families until after the patient has been declared dead."

Following brain death, if the decision has been made in favor of organ donation, the patient is brought into the operating room. According to Kate Wang, RN, Director of Surgical Services at Kootenai Health, "At that time, the patient will still be on a ventilator and have an anesthesiologist present. Then there's a decision made to stop ventilation and the anesthesiologist steps out of the room and the retrieval company will then move forward."

Gayle Long's husband, David, a long-distance trucker, died last spring of a cardiac arrest while on the road. He had checked the "Donor" box on his license. "Due to the fact that by law David had to have an autopsy, he wasn't able to donate any organs," the Rathdrum resident said. "He was, however, able to donate his corneas and it's one of the bright spots I have in his death.

"It was my gift in losing him, just knowing that two people who couldn't see before could see now."

During the donation and recovery process, the patient is always treated with great respect, James said. "It is exactly as if they were any other patient undergoing surgery."

It is illegal to buy or sell human eyes, organ and tissue.

One of the confusing things about the impressive numbers of people who have signed up to donate is why, despite these high numbers, we continue to have such long waiting lists for organs. The key word here is eligibility.

According to Alex McDonald, Director of Public Education and Public Relations for Intermountain Donor Services, "For someone to be an organ donor, they have to die in the hospital on a ventilator, typically from a head or a brain injury. This means that only about one percent of deaths are eligible for organ donation."

Organs such as heart, liver and lungs cannot be transplanted if the donor is deceased, Wang said. Tissues like corneas, skin and bone can be retrieved post-death.

"Virtually anyone who dies can be a tissue donor," McDonald said, "as long as it's a witnessed death so we know the time of death and can recover the tissue within 12-14 hours."

Kootenai Health does not at this time transplant organs, but they will use recovered tissue and bone in the operating room.

"Our use of recovered tissue is becoming less and less frequent, however, because of the synthetic products now available," Wang said. "We will use recovered tissue, for example, if someone has back surgery and their physician decides they want to use granulated harvested bone to help stabilize the implants."

The decision to donate can be legally made by anyone age 18 and older. James advises people to inform their families of their wishes as far in advance as possible.

"Our role as chaplains," she said, "is to kind of be there throughout the process. For most people, it's really difficult to comprehend that their loved one has died while that person is still present and on life support. It's about grieving.

"If the family feels they're honoring the wishes of the patient, it makes everything much easier. It's a difficult decision to make in the moment when it's hard to think."

For Gayle Long, it was a decision she always knew would be the right one.

"For David to be able to donate his corneas, he would be so happy," Long said. "He would only be sorry he couldn't have donated more. He was my rock - the type of man who helped everybody in every situation before helping himself. I just wish people knew how much good - knew how much they can help - when their loved one is gone."