Officials with Erlanger will raise a “Donate Life” flag in the hospital courtyard on Thursday to recognize and honor 36 Erlanger patients who gave the ultimate gift of life as organ donors in 2013. Thanks to the organ donations of these 36 individuals, 145 lives were saved last year.
Erlanger will join thousands of hospitals and organizations across the nation by flying the flag at 11 a.m. in recognition of Donor Awareness Month, and in honor of the uncountable lives touched by organ, eye and tissue donation. Representatives from the Erlanger Health System, Tennessee Donor Services, Donate Life, Erlanger’s transplant program and other medical professionals will join Lynn Johnson, a kidney transplant recipient, and Tiki Finlayson, mother of an organ donor.
Currently more than 120,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, and more than 2,600 of those live in Tennessee. Every 81 minutes a patient on the waiting list will die, and every 10 minutes a new name will be added.