For the City Times
PLOVER – To honor organ, tissue, and eye donors and their loved ones, Aspirus Plover Hospital & Clinic raised the Donate Life flag on April 22. The flag was raised at 1:08 p.m. to signify that 1 donor can help 8 recipients.

“By raising the Donate Life flag, we honor the donation heroes we have cared for and demonstrate our continuing commitment to help everyone who needs a second chance at life,” said Mason Lucca, Emergency Manager at Aspirus Plover Hospital. “We encourage everyone who hasn’t yet registered as a donor to do so today, and then share your lifesaving decision with your friends and family. Registering as a donor relieves your family of the burden of making this decision at a time of sadness and grief.”

Currently, there are more than 100,000 people awaiting organ transplants in the United States, including more than 1,500 people here in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, not all these people will receive the organ they need in time.

-Approximately 6,000 people die each year (17 people each day) because the organs they need are not available.

-On average, 150 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list each day.

-A single organ and tissue donor can save or heal the lives of up to 50 people.-In 2021, more than 41,000 transplants from 20,300 donors brought renewed life to patients and their loved ones.

-Many people don’t register because they think they can’t donate, which is often not the case.

Aspirus encourages everyone to give hope and help save lives by registering your decision to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor at organdonor.gov, in the Medical ID tab of your iPhone Health app, or at the Wisconsin DMV. To those who have already registered their donation decision, thank you. You can also help save lives by sharing the Donate Life message and educate others about the need and how their generosity can help save and heal lives.

Some important facts about organ, eye, and tissue donation:

-Anyone can be a potential donor, regardless of age, race, or medical history.

-More than 1,500 people in Wisconsin are awaiting life-saving organ transplants. Thousands of others could benefit from healing tissue transplants.

-Kidneys are the organ in greatest demand – with an estimated 95,000 people across the nation awaiting one – followed by liver, heart, and lungs.

-Because conditions such as diabetes and hypertension often are more prevalent in the multicultural community, these individuals make up more than 50 percent of those on the national organ transplant list.

-Living donation is an option for both kidney and liver transplantation.

-More than 170 million people are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors.