UCSF INTENSIFIES EFFORTS TO PROMOTE ORGAN DONATION

To coincide with National Donate Life Month in April, UCSF is stepping up its already aggressive efforts to raise public awareness about organ donation, both on and off campus.

From a student-led campaign to enlist organ donors and a series of seminars to a flag that will hang at the entrance to the UCSF Medical Center, the coming weeks will offer numerous reminders that while the University's transplant programs have saved the lives of thousands of patients, thousands more remain in desperate need of new organs.

More than 21,000 Californians are waiting for an organ transplant, according to Donate Life California, the state's nonprofit organ & tissue donor registry. About one-third of those in need of a transplant will die before receiving one.

"We have to lead by example, and really, we can never do enough," said Amy Peele, UCSF's director of transplant services. "Our job will never be over because we owe it to our patients to keep working to find transplant for them."

Full article: http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/with-thousands-in-need-of-transplants-ucsf-intensifies-efforts-to-promote-o/