UK Celebrates National Donate Life Month with Flag-Raising Ceremony

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 10, 2012) — UK HealthCare celebrated organ and tissue donors and recipients yesterday by raising the Donate Life flag in front of the hospital. UK Chandler Hospital is one of several Kentucky hospitals and organizations promoting organ and tissue donation awareness by flying or displaying the flags during April, which is National Donate Life Month.

Kentucky’s flag-flying campaign is part of a national effort to bolster organ donor registries in April. In addition to honoring donor families and transplant recipients by flying the Donate Life flag, hospital staff members are using the flags to help motivate their communities to consider the benefits of organ donation and to then join the Kentucky Organ Donor Registry.

“Organ and tissue donation can save and improve lives in our community, around Kentucky and across the nation, and UK wants to help drive that point home with this symbolic flag,” said Dr. Andrew Bernard, UK HealthCare chief of trauma surgery. “Joining the donor registry gives hope to those in need of organ and tissue transplants, while leaving a legacy of generosity for the donor and his or her family.”

More than 800 Kentucky residents are waiting to receive life-saving hearts, livers, lungs, kidneys and other organs. In 2011, 79 organs were transplanted from 24 organ donors at UK HealthCare alone.

An average of 18 people die every day in the U.S. waiting for an organ transplant and more than 113,000 men, women and children are on the national waiting list. A new name is added to the waiting list every 11 minutes.

The best way to honor those who gave the ultimate gift of life and to celebrate the new life of transplant recipients is to register on the Kentucky Organ Donor Registry. The registry is a safe and secure electronic database where a person’s wishes regarding donation will be carried out as requested.

To join the registry, visit www.donatelifeky.org or sign up when you renew your driver’s license.  The donor registry enables family members to know that you chose to save and enhance lives through donation. Kentucky’s “First Person Consent” laws mean that the wishes of an individual on the registry will be carried out as requested. 

Kentucky’s flag campaign and efforts to promote organ, tissue and eye donation are sponsored by the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA).

MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Perry, (859) 323-2399 or allison.perry@uky.edu