Banner Health teams up with Donor Network of Arizona and Arizona Coalition for Transplantation for organ donor registry drive
“12 Weeks of Giving” campaign seeks 400,000 new donors; register at http://www.bannerhealth.com/; keyword, Donor Team
PHOENIX (Nov. 14, 2006) – Banner Health, in partnership with the Donor Network of Arizona and the Arizona Coalition for Transplantation, is asking Arizonans to participate in a new campaign to increase the number of organ donors in the state. The “12 Weeks of Giving” campaign seeks to register 400,000 new organ donors before Jan. 26, 2007, by educating citizens about organ donation and to provide the opportunity for those individuals to sign-up officially to donate.
More than 93,000 people are currently awaiting a life-saving organ transplant in the U.S.; more than 1,000 of those are Arizonans. Tragically, 18 people on the national waiting list die every day because no organ was available.
One donor can save several lives through solid organ transplants – heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and pancreas. Dozens more benefit through donations of corneas, skin, bone, large veins and other tissues. Local surveys show that Arizonans are overwhelmingly supportive of organ donation. Yet despite this fact, only about 20 percent of our state’s population has signed up on the Arizona Donor Registry.
“Banner Health has been a strong partner with the Donor Network of Arizona in raising awareness for organ donation through programs like the hugely successful Banner Donor Team with the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury,” said Susan Edwards, Banner Health’s Arizona Region President. “The Arizona Donor Registry is a terrific tool to register organ donors. Through the 12 Weeks of Giving campaign we hope to dramatically increase this number.”
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, located in central Phoenix, performed the state’s first organ transplant – a kidney transplant – in 1969. In 1983, Banner Good Samaritan surgeons performed the state’s first liver transplant.
Today, Arizona has three transplant centers: Banner Good Samaritan, University Medical Center in Tucson and the Mayo Clinic-Scottsdale, all of whom are encouraging Arizonans to participate in the 12 Weeks of Giving campaign.
Arizonans can register to become an organ donor by visiting http://www.bannerhealth.com/, keyword: “Donor Team.” Arizona Donor Registry electronic kiosks will also be available at Banner Health facilities throughout the Phoenix area.
For more information about the 12 Weeks of Giving campaign, please contact Sara Pace Jones or Stacy Underwood at Donor Network of Arizona, (602) 222-2200.
About Banner Health
Phoenix-based Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns or manages 20 acute-care hospitals, long-term care centers and an array of other services. Including family clinics, home care services, a nursing registry and home medical equipment services in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.
Contact:
Banner Health Public Relations
(602) 747-4704
or
Banner Good Samaritan Public Relations
(602) 239-4411
