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UPMC Media Relations

UPMC Celebrates Donate Life Month With Flag Raising, Awareness Events

WHAT:  April is Donate Life Month. As part of Donate Life America’s national campaign to register organ donors, 20 Million in 2012, UPMC will raise the Donate Life Flag in celebration of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education’s (CORE) "Flaunt Your Colors" day. Everyone is encouraged to wear green and blue, the official colors of the Donate Life America logo. 

WHO: Speakers at the flag raising will include John Innocenti, president, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside; Abhinav Humar, M.D., clinical director of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute; Harry Kiernan, of the National Living Organ Donors Foundation; and Susan Stuart, of CORE, among others.

WHEN: 9:30 a.m., Friday, April 20, 2012

WHERE: UPMC Montefiore, Seventh Floor, Main Entrance. A reception will follow at the B. Blair Crawford Garden Courtyard on the Seventh Floor.

WHY: There are more than 113,000 people waiting for organ transplants in the United States. UPMC hospitals, as well as transplant centers and procurement agencies across the United States, will fly the Donate Life flag during April as a visual reminder of the importance of organ donation and to call attention to the need for more organ donors.

The UPMC Donate Life Patient Parade will be held following the flag raising. The parade is an opportunity for those touched by organ donation to visit medical units throughout the hospital to thank healthcare providers and also provide hope and encouragement to those patients awaiting transplantation.

Other events planned throughout the month include donor awareness tables set up at UPMC Montefiore and UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC’s annual Celebration of Life Program on April 30 for donor families, live donors, transplant candidates, organ recipients, family caregivers and healthcare providers to honor organ donors.

Note to media: Reporters and photographers interested in covering the flag raising or other events at UPMC during Donate Life Month should contact Jennifer C. Yates at (412) 647-9966 or e-mail YatesJC@upmc.edu.

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