Med Center Health has joined other healthcare organizations to create a donation-friendly community through “Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Organ Donation Campaign.”

This national initiative, sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges healthcare organizations to educate employees, patients, visitors, and the community about the crucial need for organ, eye, and tissue donation and give them opportunities to sign up as donors.

“One organ donor can save up to eight lives,” said Connie Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Med Center Health. “And an eye and tissue donor can improve up to 50 lives. But each year, the number of people on the waiting list grows much larger than the number of donors and transplants. Med Center Health is committed to helping reverse this trend by encouraging our staff and other members of the community to register as organ donors to spread the word among friends and families.”

More than 114,000 people in the U.S., including approximately 1,000 in Kentucky, are waiting for an organ transplant and 20 of them will die each day because no organ was available. Med Center Health is reaching out to the community to support its goal of registering 100 new organ, eye, and tissue donors in the Kentucky registry before April 30, 2019.

Kentucky residents can register for organ donation at donateforky.org. Med Center Health asks that when prompted what influenced their decision, registrants select a Med Center Health facility.

For more information about the Workforce Partnership for Life Hospital Organ Donation campaign, visit organdonor.gov.