Jerri Underwood, Chief Nursing Executive for Parkridge Health System; Rene Bell, Pharmacy Buyer for Parkridge Medical Center; Denise Fugatt, Tennessee Donor Services; Connie Oliver, ICU Clinical Director at Parkridge Medical Center; and Darrell Moore, President and CEO of Parkridge Health System.
Special “Donate Life” flags are flying on the flagpoles in front of the Parkridge Medical Center and Parkridge East Hospital campuses this month as part of a special campaign demonstrating the hospital system’s commitment to supporting organ donor awareness.
“Parkridge is proud to support organ donation,” said Darrell Moore, Parkridge Health System president and CEO. “There are many individuals in our community who have benefited from the services that Tennessee Donor Services provide.”
Tennessee Donor Services estimates that one in three people will have a connection to an organ donation at some point in their lives. Over 113,000 patients are on the national transplant waiting list, 2,400 of whom are in Tennessee. In 2011, 789 Tennesseans received the gift of life with transplants.
“We are so pleased to have the Parkridge hospitals partner with us to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation,” said Dawn Benjamin, senior public relations coordinator for Tennessee Donor Services. “The Donate Life flag is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to donors and donor families and serves as a sign of support for giving the gift of life.”
Tennessee Donor Services is a non-profit organ procurement organization, one of a network of organizations across the country that facilitate recovery and transplantation of lifesaving organs and tissue. For more information on organ donation, go to www.donatelifetn.org.
Parkridge East Hospital CFO Ken Metteauer; Parkridge East RNs Lorraine Rivers and Janeen Stephens; Parkridge East Associate Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Wallace; Tennessee Donor Services’ Denise Fugatt and Parkridge East CEO Jarrett Millsaps.