CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — As National Donate Life Month continues through April, several organizations came together with the community to honor organ, tissue and cornea donors from the past year.
For the third year, United Hospital Center, Donate Life West Virginia and the Center for Organ Recovery and Education gathered at the Donor Tree in the People’s Hospice Memorial Garden in Clarksburg to celebrate the gifts of life.
“The tree is an opportunity for folks to come and recognize their loved ones,” Christy Conley, West Virginia community outreach coordinator for CORE said. “It’s here all year long and it’s something United Hospital hospital has put up in honor of donors, not just for this year. It’s a symbol of life.”
Those with family members who became donors were able to hang notes telling their loved one’s story next to the sun catchers representing those lost.
As April is designated National Donate Life month as an attempt to encourage people to become donors, Conley said Wednesday’s event was intended to shed a light on the need for people to sign up in the Mountain State.
“We have approximately 500 people on the [transplant] waiting list currently in West Virginia. Last year, in 2015, I can say as a whole we had almost 600 people who donated organ tissue or corneas.”
For UHC, which only deals with tissue and cornea donations, the numbers indicated there were six tissue donors and five cornea donors. Those totals and their efforts to encourage donation earned the hospital the Gold Award from the Donate Life Hospital Challenge.
Juanita Alfred, RN, clinical educator and supervisor of critical care at UHC explained their efforts are possible through the coordination with CORE when a donor situation presents itself.
“They check the needs of those in our area first and then if there’s no match, they move on to a wider circle,” she said. “That coordinator is working closely with transplant surgeons, finding matches and, as that becomes clear that [donation] is going to happen, retrieval happens at our hospital.”
In West Virginia, Alfred said the most common issues she see requiring organ and tissue donation relate to heart, kidney, liver and lung diseases prevalent in the area.
Alfred hoped Wednesday’s event could thank donors properly, while encouraging others to see the benefits of becoming a donor now, rather than leaving the decision up to someone else.
“We want to really honor those who choose donation,” she said. “As you talk about end of life issues with your family, make it known what your choices are. That takes a big burden off of them because they know what you want.”
More information about becoming a donor can be found at CORE’s website, as well as Donate Life West Virginia’s website, donatelife.wv.gov. Registration to become an organ, tissue and cornea donor can be completed there as well.