April 19, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Office: (973) 972-8761

Cell: (973) 634-8298

University Hospital Supports National Donate Life Month this April

Celebration of National Donate Life Month to include

Blue & Green Day, Meet and Greet with Transplant Recipients,

Liver Transplant Team and Organ Donor Recruitment

WHAT:

University Hospital transplant recipients, employees and volunteers will join thousands from around the country to celebrate April as National Donate Life Month. National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003. 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.

The annual celebration commemorates those who:

· have donated organs and tissue

· have received a life-saving transplant

· are currently waiting for a transplant and

· have died while awaiting a transplant.

To show support for organ and tissue donation, employees, patients and visitors will wear blue and green.

Blue and Green Day activities this year will include a donor recruitment event conducted by volunteers and liver transplant recipients in the hospital cafeteria from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM. A special meet and greet with the Liver Transplant team will be held at 12:30 PM.

Members of the public can register as an organ donor at University Hospital on April 21 or online: https://www.registerme.org/campaign/universityhospital

The Center for Liver Diseases and Transplantation at University Hospital is one of the busiest centers for transplantation in the nation. The multidisciplinary team of surgeons, hepatologists, nurses, and other health professionals at the Liver Center offers expertise in treating adult patients with a range of diseases affecting the liver including complex hepatobiliary disorders such as liver tumors, Hepatitis C, biliary structures, portal hypertension and transplantation. Each year, University Hospital performs more than 50 liver transplants. New Jersey’s first liver transplant was performed at University Hospital on February 14, 1989.

WHEN/WHERE:

Friday, April 21, 2017

11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

University Hospital Cafeteria (B-Level)

Newark, NJ

WHY:

Currently, there are more than 120,000 people on the national transplant waiting list. And each day, 21 people die while waiting for a life-saving organ. There are now over 117 million registered donors in the United States, including nearly 2.5 million from New Jersey, but the number of people in need of transplants continues to rise. A solution to this problem is to continue educating the public about the life-saving and life-enhancing benefits of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. It is important for families to have the conversation about organ and tissue donation and make their wishes known.

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University Hospital is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. Located at University Heights in Newark, New Jersey, University Hospital is a principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and a regional resource for advanced services across many medical specialties.  For more information about University Hospital, please visit www.uhnj.org.