Events celebrate organ donation
In an ongoing effort to raise awareness of the critical need for organ donors while honoring the powerful stories of organ donation, all Allegheny Health Network (AHN) hospitals will host a series of events to celebrate National Donate Life Month.
The events will take place throughout April at Canonsburg, Allegheny General, Allegheny Valley, Forbes, Jefferson, Saint Vincent and West Penn hospitals.
Among the month’s highlights will be flag-raising ceremonies at each hospital.
All AHN hospitals will rally together in the name of organ donation awareness today for “Step Up and Give a Hand Day.” Employees and visitors will be encouraged to make their mark and pledge their support for organ donation by joining in on colorful handprint displays.
On April 13, each hospital across AHN and parent company, Highmark Health, will unite for “National Donate Life Blue and Green Day.” All employees will be asked to wear blue and green attire to work to show support for organ donation. At Highmark’s Fifth Avenue Place headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, the lunchtime crowd will have the opportunity to visit an informational table in the lobby staffed by representatives from the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and AHN. That night, the city skyline will pay tribute to Donate Life Month as the iconic spire atop Fifth Avenue Place will be illuminated in a blend of blue and green light.
“April is an important month for Allegheny Health Network as our employees come together to honor the heroes of organ donation and transplantation, ” said Cynthia Hundorfean, president and CEO of Allegheny Health Network. “With a new patient added to the national organ transplant waiting list every ten minutes, our goal is to improve the public’s awareness and understanding of this critical issue and increase the registration for organ donation so that this precious gift is available to more people.”
According to CORE, 20 people die in the U.S. every day while awaiting an organ, and the nationwide organ waiting list is now more than 115,000 people long, which includes more than 7,500 people who live in Pennsylvania.
In 2017, 151 lives were saved in AHN hospitals as a result of organ, tissue and cornea donations. Additionally, there were 170 tissue donors from AHN hospitals, potentially resulting in up to 12,750 transplants. Another 130 AHN donors provided the gift of sight through corneal transplantation.
A flag-raising ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday at Canonsburg Hospital, which will provide a platform for emotional stories about the gift of donation from the perspective of donor families and transplant recipients, and raise awareness for the importance of donor registration.