New donor memorial wall to be unveiled
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Officials from WVU Medicine and the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) will officially mark National Donate Life Month to raise awareness about organ, tissue, and cornea donation and to inspire everyone to register to be an organ donor on Friday, April 12, at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Hospital and CORE officials will unveil the new donor memorial wall, located next to Hospital Administration in the lobby of Ruby Memorial. A Donate Life flag raising ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. in the Bruce McClymonds Conference Center on the first floor of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute.
“Our close collaboration with CORE sets the gift of life in motion,” Michael Shullo, Pharm.D., WVU Medicine associate vice president of transplant services, said. “Together, we have fostered a greater understanding of donation and transplantation in this community and created a culture of donation here in our own hospital. Ultimately, that will mean more lives saved and more people healed.”
Nationally, close to 114,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, including 2,500 people in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. At least 20 will die each day without receiving a transplant. Someone is added to the transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.
“It’s an honor for CORE to celebrate National Donate Life Month with the healthcare professionals, public officials, law enforcement officers, small business owners, faith leaders and community members of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia,” Susan Stuart, president and CEO of CORE, said. “Coming together to reinforce the life-saving and life-affirming gifts of organ, tissue, and cornea donation and to honor those generous donors who offer the gift of life is truly significant. We are inspiring people to say ‘yes’ to donation, and we’re giving hope to the nearly 114,000 people who are waiting for a life-saving transplant.”
Approximately 11,000 people die annually who are considered medically suitable to donate organs, tissue, and corneas, yet only a fraction donate. Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history.
To register as an organ donor, visit www.registerme.org/wvumedicine.
Attention reporters and editors: If you would like to cover the unveiling of the donor memorial wall and the flag raising ceremony, please contact Angela Jones-Knopf at knopfa@wvumedicine.org or Heather Sammons at heather.sammons@wvumedicine.org. For questions for the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), please contact Katelynn Metz, CORE Communications Coordinator, at 202-309-5116 or kmetz@core.org.