National Donate Life Month
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National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003 with the support of then Secretary of HHS, Tommy Thompson. Celebrated in April each year, NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.
2011 NDLM United States Proclamation
More than 55 years after the first successful organ transplant in December of 1954, thousands of individuals have recognized the importance of giving the gift of life to others. In 2010, over 14,500 people were organ donors. Thanks to them, and thousands of others before them, more than half a million people in the United States received transplants.
Despite the compassion of so many, National Donate Life Month is a time when we also must raise public awareness that there continues to be a critical need for more donors and an increasing gap between the number of people whose lives depend upon receiving an organ transplant and the number of available organs. More than 110,740 people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Thousands more need tissue and corneal transplants each year, and about 30,000 people a year are diagnosed with blood diseases that may be cured by a marrow/blood stem cell transplant.
Every day in April people across the U.S. make a special effort to celebrate the tremendous generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, eye, tissue, marrow, and blood donors and to encourage more Americans to follow their fine example. Several activities are organized during this month to call attention to the need for organ and tissue donation, the impact donation has in saving lives of other individuals and the importance of people making their wishes known to their family in the event of an untimely death.
In celebration of NDLM, Donate Life Connecticut joins together with State Legislators, Mayors and First Selectman, Department of Motor Vehicles, organ and tissue donor families, transplant recipients and health professionals who advocate organ donation to bring public awareness and education to the residents of Connecticut. This media event at the State Capitol is a wonderful public opportunity to rally in support of the growing Connecticut Donor Registry. For more information contact us at 203-387-1549.
Join Us for the 2011 Celebration!
Please join Donate Life Connecticut for the annual celebration of National Donate Life Month and awards ceremony honoring the 2011 Annual Poster Contest winners. A no-cost continental breakfast will be served.
Friday, April 1, 2011
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Connecticut State Capitol Building
North Lobby & Hall of Flags
210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut
Co-Hosts:
Elizabeth “Betsy” Ritter - House Chair of the Public Health Committee & State Representative (D-Waterford and Montville)
David Labriola - Republican Whip & State Representative (R-Naugatuck, Oxford and Southbury)
Guest Speakers:
Melody A. Currey - Commissioner of Department of Motor Vehicles
Deborah Heinrich - Non-Profit Liaison to the Governor
Tom Dempsey, OD - Transplant Recipient
Lorraine Tierney - Mother of an Organ Donor
Instrumental Performances:
North Haven High School Students
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