Each April, Donate Life America leads National Donate Life Month, an observance focusing national attention on the need for and importance of organ, tissue and cornea donation.
CAMC has remained a strong supporter of National Donate Life Month since its inception in 2003. Partnering each year with the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), CAMC holds a flag raising at each of its hospitals as well as a Tree of Life ceremony for both General and Memorial Hospitals.
The flag raising events were held on Thursday, April 4, and included speakers from CAMC administration and staff, CORE representatives and donor families and recipients.
“National Donate Life Month is about the importance of registering your decision to be a donor, honoring deceased and living donors, and celebrating the lives they saved,” said Jessica Wheeler, Designated Requestor with CORE. “It is the generosity of donors and donor families that makes saving lives through transplantation possible.”
The Tree of Life ceremonies occurred at CAMC Memorial Hospital on Monday, April 15, and at CAMC General Hospital on Friday, April 19.
“Since we are an organ donor hospital with a kidney transplant program, it is important to us as a health system to support and recognize our donors and donor families with our Tree of Life ceremony,” said Glen Martin, Associate Administrator of CAMC General Hospital. “During the ceremony, every organ donor from the previous year is recognized with a gold leaf on the Tree of Life, representing their generous donation to make a difference in multiple lives.”
Currently, there are more than 100,000 individuals awaiting an organ transplant on the national list, with approximately 500 of those individuals awaiting transplantation in West Virginia.
