Every week, more than 150 people on the national transplant waiting list die because a lifesaving organ is not available. April is National Donate Life Month and Tennova Healthcare is urging community members to support organ, eye and tissue donation
To spread awareness about organ donation and transplantation, the doctors, nurses and staff at Newport Medical Center invite the community to attend a special ceremony at the hospital at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 13, National Donate Life Blue and Green Day. As part of the ceremony, a special organ donation flag will be raised. Refreshments will be served. (In case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to the hospital cafeteria where attendees can watch the flag-raising ceremony through large glass windows.)
“We encourage everyone to show us your Donate Life colors on April 13 by wearing blue and green,” said Dawn Poythress, RN, director of the medical/surgical and cardiac care units at Newport Medical Center. Poythress is also a member of the hospital’s ethics committee, which is spearheading the campaign to raise awareness on the need for organ, eye and tissue donation.
“Today, approximately 117,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant,” Poythress said. “Twenty-two of them will die today because there simply aren’t enough available organs to meet the need. You can help Tennova save lives by signing up to be an organ donor through the state registry website.”
Guest speakers at the Donate Life ceremony in Newport will include Ronnie Hommel, a kidney transplant recipient from Parrottsville, Tennessee; and Laura Forbes, a kidney donor from Newport, Tennessee. In 2011, Forbes donated a kidney to her Uncle Ronnie.
