MMC-BD NEWS

Marshfield Medical Center-Beaver Dam was among the 50 Donate Life Wisconsin member and partner organizations that participated in a statewide Donate Life Flag-Raising ceremony on Monday, April 6. This event promoted the mission of organ, tissue and eye donation, honors organ, tissue and eye donors and their families and encourages those not registered to “Say Yes!” and register as an organ, tissue and eye donor at DonateLifeWisconsin.org. 

The Donate Life flag was first introduced in 2006 and will fly at MMC-BD throughout April. Donate Life Wisconsin created the inaugural Pause to Give Life event in 2018 as a statewide observance to occur annually on the first Monday morning of April to mark the start of National Donate Life Month. 

“One donor can save eight lives and this event recognized the more than 112,000 patients waiting for a life-saving transplant. Of those patients, nearly 1,800 are right here in Wisconsin,” said Angelia Foster, MMC-BD Chief Administrative Officer. “We also honored the gift of life that donors and their families have made possible.”

In 2019 in Wisconsin, there were nearly 180 living kidney and liver donors, more than 250 deceased organ donors, more than 1,100 tissue donors and more than 1,500 eye donors. More than 800 organs were transplanted and more than 750 recipients received the gifts of life and hope with an organ transplant.

Save and heal lives — Register as an organ, tissue and eye donor at DonateLifeWisconsin.org or at a Wisconsin DMV Service Center. Anyone age 15 and half or older with a Wisconsin Drivers’ License or state ID can register as a donor regardless of age, health, gender or ethnic or racial background. Nearly three million, or almost 60 percent of those eligible, have said “Yes” and registered as organ, tissue and eye donors on Wisconsin’s Donor Registry.