|
For the seventh year in a row, Saturn
and its retailers throughout the United States will be encouraging Americans
to become life-saving donors during the week of Valentine’s Day.
Saturn stores, blood banks, organ and tissue recovery organizations and
various media outlets in many communities combine to create donor awareness
events across the nation. National Donor Day is the largest,
single-day donor awareness event in the country.
Its mission is quite simple - to encourage people to make a positive
decision about giving blood, joining the bone marrow registry and signing an
organ & tissue donor card. Since
1997, Donor Day events have generated more than 37,000 whole blood donors and
7,000 new names on the national bone marrow registry. This year, the national kick-off for Saturn National Donor Day will be held in Gainesville, Fl with entertainment from 10 am to 3 pm on February 11 at Saturn of Gainesville. Weather permitting the Saturn Lightship will watch the festivities from the skies, as the 1 pm press conference gets underway.
The press conference will feature
Chris Klug, the 2002 Olympic Bronze medalist in the first Olympic Parallel
Slalom Snowboarding event in Salt Lake City.
In 2002, Chris survived a liver transplant to continue his ski-racing
career. Also, there
will be a first-time meeting between a bone-marrow recipient and their donor. Here
are things to know. Over
80,000 patients currently await a life-saving organ transplant. An average of
17 people die every day because not enough organs are available to meet the
need. Over 900,000 tissue
transplants are performed each year. Organ
and tissue donation pledge cards will be available at all Saturn retail
facilities on Saturn National Donor Day. Pledge cards can also be obtained by
calling 800-553-6670. Each year, approximately 30,000 patients in the U.S.
will be diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, like leukemia, which are
treatable by a marrow or blood stem cell transplant. Just one in three will
find a donor match within their family. Many
Saturn retailers will offer the opportunity to join the National Marrow Donor
Program Registry – all it takes is a simple blood test. Anyone between the
ages of 18-60 and in good general health can join the Registry. Blood is typically in short
supply during February, and this year the shortage is expected to be
especially grave. Although 60 percent of Americans are eligible to give blood,
only 5 percent donate. Blood drives will be available at many Saturn
locations and where not available, blood donation may be pledged for a later
date at a different location. In addition,
demands for a transplant among minority populations is disproportionately
high, while traditional minority representation among donor pools is not
meeting the need. As a result of these two divergent trends, there is a
greatly heightened need for donor awareness within minority communities.
National Donor Day seeks to spread awareness of this heightened need among
African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders. For More Information visit http://www.saturnuaw.com/filecabinet/Satfile/national.h tm Flowers wilt, candy gets eaten…but a lifesaving-gesture is a true expression of love. |
|
|
|
|
|
|