April is National Donate Life Month and both CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System and Wadley Regional Medical Center are teaming up with Southwest Transplant Alliance to raise flag in commemoration of the event.
Donate Life Month is a nation-wide observance created to raise awareness of organ, eye and tissue donation.
"These events are to honor those donor heroes and their families, to bring awareness to organ donation and to save lives," said Tiffany Smith, regional donation development coordinator for Southwest Transplant Alliance. "Both hospitals have made an impact in our area and have had donors that saved many lives. In 2018, the hospitals combined had donors that saved over 20 lives."
The Wadley Flag Raising Ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. Monday and the St. Michael event takes place from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday in front of the main hospital entrance.
Southwest Transplant Alliance, a Dallas-based organ procurement organization, works to bring awareness about the importance of organ donation.
"Southwest Transplant Alliance has been educating the community about donation and working with donor families and transplant recipients for more than 40 years," said Patti Niles, CEO of Southwest Transplant Alliance. "We work with hundreds of hospitals throughout Texas to respond to referrals for possible organ donors and then educate families about how individuals can save lives through organ and tissue donation."
Facts about organ donations from STA:
- An average of 20 people in the U.S. die every day waiting on a life-saving organ.
- One donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and can affect 75 lives through tissue donation.
- There are more than 110,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a transplant.
- Every 10 minutes another person is added to the waiting list.
- More than 36,500 organ transplants from 17,500 donors brought new life to patients and their families in 2018.
- More than 84,000 corneal transplants help to restore sight each year.
- 145.5 million people are registered organ, eye and tissue donors.
- Nearly 2,000 children under 18 are on the national transplant waiting list and 500 of those are between 1 and 5 years old.
- More than 1,900 children received transplants in 2018.
- Increase organ, eye and tissue donation by registering at RegisterMe.org. It's recommended people tell their family and friends about their decision to donate life. Visit DonateLife.net to learn other ways to help the cause.