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To recognize the 35th Anniversary of Lifeline of Ohio and to support Donate Life Month in the City of Columbus by encouraging residents to consider sharing the gift of life through organ, eye, and tissue donations.
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WHEREAS Donate Life month, is traditionally recognized each year during the month of April - it is a time when Donate Life organizations from across the country strive to make LIFE possible by educating and motivating individuals to register their decision to be organ, eye and tissue donors; however this year’s observance was delayed due to the COVID -19 Pandemic; and
WHEREAS, More than 108,000 men, women, and children are currently awaiting a life-saving organ transplant in the United States; Approximately 20 times a day a person dies for lack of an available organ; Ohio has more than 3,100 people awaiting an organ transplant at any one time - Central Ohio has more than 700 men, women and children currently listed for an organ transplant at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center or Nationwide Children’s Hospital; and
WHEREAS, the high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hepatitis B and C, results in racial minorities being disproportionally represented on transplant waiting lists - Organ transplantation positively impacts patient survival but greater access is limited by a severe donor shortage - African Americans make up the largest group in need of a transplant - in fact according to the National Kidney Foundation only 17% of African Americans needing a transplant received one; and
WHEREAS, A single donor can potentially save the lives of eight people through organ donation by donating their heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys and small intestine, and enhance the lives of more than 75 others through tissue donation by donating corneas, veins, heart valves, fascia, bone, skins, tendons, ligaments and nerves; and
WHEREAS, For 35 years, Lifeline of Ohio, the local organ procurement organization serving this ar...
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