UM SRH team members assembled on April 4 for a Donate Life Flag Raising, honoring past organ donors and their families.
The University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System, observes National Donate Life Month in April, honoring organ donors and bringing awareness to saving or enhancing lives through organ, eye, and tissue donation.
Activities were kicked-off on April 4 at the annual Donate Life flag-raising ceremony at the entrance of University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton. After a prayer offered by the Rev. George Wheatley Sr., of Cambridge, Md., LuAnn Brady, UM SRH Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, discussed the meaning of organ donation and expressed gratitude to patients and families who have given the gift of life.
“These most sacred gifts change lives,” Brady said. “In Maryland, there are more than 2,000 people currently on the national transplant waiting list. One organ donor can save up to eight people and one tissue donor can heal the lives of up to 75 people.”
Karen Kennedy, Infinite Legacy’s Vice President of External Affairs and Education, expressed gratitude to donor families and to UM SRH, after which John Burke, father of an organ donor, shared his story of loss and hope when his son saved lives as an organ donor.
Shown at the UM SRH Donate Life Flag Raising event: (Left to right) Danielle Wilson, Director of Patient Care Services Operations; LuAnn Brady, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, UM Shore Regional Health; Chris Wright, Hospital Donation Coordinator, Infini`te Legacy; John Burke, donor family member; and Karen Kennedy, Vice President of External Affairs, Infinite Legacy.
In partnership with Infinite Legacy, a non-profit organization that facilitates donation in area hospitals, UM SRH facilitated one organ donor in 2023, who donated six organs to five recipients, as well as 26 tissue donations, improving the lives of up to 2,000 patients. During the past 30 years, UM SRH has facilitated over 40 organ donations and over 150 tissue donations.
“Thanks to the generosity of donors and their families, and the dedication of health care and transplant professionals, thousands of lives are saved through organ and tissue donation,” said Chris Wright, Hospital Donation Coordinator, Infinite Legacy. “Our donor families are comforted in knowing that, even in death, their loved one is helping others.”
“At Shore Regional Health, we are committed to caring for patients from birth to death, and also for those who make the renewal of life possible for others,” said Ken Kozel, President and CEO, UM SRH. “We support and stand behind the families and loved ones of these patients who have selflessly donated life so that others may have a second chance at it.”
To register as an organ donor, visit a Maryland Vehicle Administration office or visit Infinite Legacy at infinitelegacy.org.
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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