March 16, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Organ and tissue transplant recipients will join with those who made their transplants possible to celebrate life at the annual UAB/Alabama Organ Center Celebration of Life Picnic from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 17 in the UAB Mini-Park on the corner of University Boulevard and 14th Street South.
Alabama Organ Center (AOC) and University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Transplant Program physicians, nurses, coordinators and other staff will host the several hundred people expected to attend the event. The picnic will include a short program, a "cheer for life" to recognize the recipients of transplants and their caregivers, photo sessions and a ceremony honoring those who have made possible the precious gift of life.
A quilt pinning ceremony for the Alabama Donor Family Quilt also will take place during the donor recognition ceremony.
April is National Donate Life Month. It seeks to spotlight the need for more families to be aware of the critical, ongoing need for organ donation. More than 5,000 organ transplant recipients identify UAB as their transplant center.
"More than 3,000 people in Alabama are waiting for a lifesaving organ," says AOC Director Dem Lalison. "One donor can give a heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and other organs, and also can help dozens through tissue donation.
"We urge families to talk about organ donation. It is an opportunity to give people a second chance at life."
For more information, contact the AOC at 205-971-9200.
About the Alabama Organ Center
Established in 1979 as the Alabama Organ Bank, the Alabama Organ Center is the federally designated, independent organ-procurement organization (OPO) for Alabama and serves all hospitals in the state. The mission of the Alabama Organ Center is to provide families an opportunity to donate organs and tissues, to support these families regardless of their decision and to promote equitable use of these gifts to others. The center's goal is to facilitate the donor process, coordinate the recovery of organs and tissues for transplantation and research and promote interest in the organ- and tissue-donor program. The Alabama Organ Center is committed to increasing knowledge about organ and tissue donation and transplantation through ongoing public and professional education programs.
About UAB
More than 10,000 transplants have been performed at UAB since its first in 1968. UAB's now is the second largest and busiest in the nation, performing more than 300 procedures each year. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, UAB has performed more kidney transplants than any other U.S. program since 1987. UAB's liver transplant program is ranked 16th in the nation for its volume; its patient outcomes are among the best in the South and waiting times to receive a transplant are among the shortest in the South. UAB is the second-largest lung transplant center in the South, and the heart transplant program has gained international recognition as one of the premier thoracic transplant programs in the United States, having performed almost 500 heart transplants with outstanding survival rates.