Celebrated in April each year, Donate Life Month is a dedicated time to encourage Americans to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.
Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health recognized the beginning of Donate Life Month with a flag raising ceremony at Lancaster General Hospital (LGH) on March 31. LGH nurses, chaplains, medical staff executives and organ donors and recipients gathered at the LGH flag pole that Friday morning to honor organ donors and to help educate the public on the importance of organ donation.
Brandy Jenkins, MSN, RN-BC, nurse manager on the Trauma-Neuro Intensive Care Unit, opened the ceremony by sharing information to encourage registering as an organ donor.
“Nationally, there are more than 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant. Seventeen people die each day waiting for an organ donation and every 10 minutes another person is added to the wait list, “ said Jenkins. “I see the benefits of organ donation in my job every day. I encourage everyone to register because you have no idea how many lives you could potentially save.”
A Lancaster community member also shared his story of being an organ recipient and that his new lungs help him now live every day to the fullest.
LGH staff members and the family Lilian Fuentes, a LGH housekeeper of 20 years who passed away after a brain aneurysm last June, honored her and her gift of life at the ceremony. She was an organ donor who helped 50-75 people live another day with her donated eye, kidneys, heart valves, lungs, pancreas, bone marrow and skin.
Lilly’s niece, Veronica Ruiz, a medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), gave a speech to honor her aunt Lilly saying, “We need more people like Lilly in this world. We need more good. Please keep her memory alive. If you are willing, please consider being an organ donor. You could help save so many lives and positively impact this world as Lily did.”
Dave Brubaker, LGH chaplain, lead a moment of silence and remembrance for Lilly and her family raised the donor flag, which flew throughout the month of April in her honor.
National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was established by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003. Since 1974, the Gift of Life Donor Program has coordinated more than 58,000 organ transplants and more than two million tissue transplants.