Lions Eye Bank for Long Island and the Transplant Center of North Shore University Hospital Reach Out to Faith Communities about Organ and Tissue Donation
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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – MANHASSET, NY – This November marks the 15th Annual National Donor Sabbath, a time set aside for religious leaders and their congregations to discuss and celebrate the miracle of organ, tissue and eye donation, and transplantation.
During National Donor Sabbath, the Lions Eye Bank for Long Island and the Transplant Center, both located at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, will collaborate with faith communities, focusing on how individuals can make a difference in the life of someone in desperate need of a life-saving organ transplant or a sight-saving corneal transplant.
Launched by the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Donor Sabbath aims to increase awareness about the dire need for organs and tissues for transplantation and to educate the public that most religions in the country support organ and tissue donation directly or support the individual choices of their members. Donation is viewed by many religions as a compassionate and generous gift.
The Lions Eye Bank is sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn and Queens and serves the entire metropolitan area in facilitating sight-restoring corneal transplants. The Transplant Center, the first and only one of its kind based in Nassau and Queens Counties, serves the populations of Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City for kidney transplants.
The need for organ donation in New York and nationwide is great:
* The number of candidates waiting for organ transplants across the United States is approaching 110,000.
* Of those waiting, nearly 10,000 are in New York State, and the number of people listed in the greater New York metropolitan area is approaching 8,000.
* Across the nation, as many as 18 people die each day because of the shortage of organ donors.
If you are a religious leader, you can help by contacting the Lions Eye Bank for Long Island and request brochures that can be distributed in conjunction with a sermon in which you incorporate the merits of organ, tissue and eye donation. The brochures include a registry form to enroll in the New York State Donate Life Organ, Tissue, and Eye Donor Registry.
If you are a congregant, please take some time out this month to talk to your spiritual leader and encourage him or her to discuss the miracle of life and the miracle of sight through donation. Individuals are encouraged to enroll in the donor registry and talk to family and friends about how you can give the ultimate gifts – the Gift of Life and the Gift of Sight.
For more information about how the Lions Eye Bank for Long Island can help your place of worship spread the word about organ, tissue and eye donation, please contact Susan Zarola-Cohen, MD at (516) 465-8430 or by email at: [email protected]. For more information about the Transplant Center please contact Donna Dalton, RN, at (516) 472-5829, or by email at: [email protected].
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