FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Michelle Aliprantis, MBA
Regional Director of Marketing and Communications
Prime Healthcare Pennsylvania Region
MAliprantis@primehealthcare.com
Gift of Life Donor Program and Roxborough Memorial Hospital
Promote Organ Donation to Help Save Lives
– Gift of Life Encourages Individuals to Celebrate National Donate Life Month
by Registering to Become an Organ, Tissue and Cornea Donor –
Philadelphia, PA (April 1, 2025)– Every day, 17 individuals in the United States tragically lose their lives while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. This heartbreaking reality underscores the urgent need for increased awareness and action surrounding organ and tissue donation. In honor of National Donate Life Month, Roxborough Memorial Hospital is proud to partner with the Gift of Life Donor Program to champion the cause of organ and tissue donation throughout the month of April.
Gift of Life is actively encouraging individuals to register as organ, tissue, and cornea donors—a process that is quick and straightforward. By visiting https://registerme.org/campaign/RMH or accessing the donors1.org website, anyone can take a significant step toward saving lives.
“Transplantation is one of the most significant advancements in the history of medicine. Still, the need for organs is far greater than the number available,” said Richard D. Hasz, President and CEO of Gift of Life. “Gift of Life’s mission includes educating our community about the powerful impact they can make by taking less than a minute to register as an organ, tissue and cornea donor.”
“As a health system, we at Roxborough Memorial Hospital recognize our unique position—not only to care for our patients’ physical health but also to inspire our community to embrace wellness in all facets of life,” said Shawn Parekh, CEO of Roxborough Memorial Hospital. “The more individuals we can motivate to become organ donors, the more effectively we can fulfill our mission to advocate for the health and well-being of our entire community.”
We urge everyone to engage in meaningful conversations with family members and friends about the importance of registering as donors. The impact of such a decision is monumental: one organ donor has the potential to save up to eight lives, while a tissue donor can enhance the quality of life for nearly 100 individuals.
Some important facts about organ, tissue and cornea donation:
- Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race or medical history.
- About 5,000 children and adults in the region await life-saving organ transplants. Thousands of others could benefit from life-enhancing tissue transplants.
- With more than 90,000 people across the nation awaiting a kidney, it is the organ in greatest demand, followed by liver, heart and lungs.
- Because conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are often more prevalent in the multicultural community, these individuals make up 60 percent of those on the national organ transplant list.
Together, we can foster a culture of compassion and generosity, ensuring that no one has to wait in vain for the chance at a second life. Join us in making a difference—your decision to register as a donor could be the key to saving lives in our community and beyond.
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About Roxborough Memorial Hospital: Roxborough Memorial Hospital is a 131-bed community hospital. The hospital has been serving the medical and health care needs of the Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and northwest section of Philadelphia communities for more than a century, having first opened its doors in 1890. Roxborough Memorial Hospitals School of Nursing has been educating nurses since 1898. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency. As a member of Prime Healthcare Services, headquartered in Ontario, California, Roxborough Memorial Hospital is focused on becoming one of the leaders in technology. For more information, please visit www.roxboroughmemorial.com.
About Prime Healthcare and the Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 51 hospitals and more than 360 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.5 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems, with nearly 57,000 employees and physicians. Eighteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a 10 Top and 15 Top Health System by Truven Health Analytics. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 69 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past eight years. To learn more about Prime Healthcare, visit: www.primehealthcare.com. To learn more about Prime Healthcare Foundation, visit: www.primehealthcarefoundation.org.
Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware serving 11.3 million people. It works with 124 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as hundreds of transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 14,860 donors and 41,140 organs for transplant, the most of any OPO in the country since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Overall, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 62,000 organs and more than two million tissue transplants since its founding. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and a tissue donor can improve the lives of 100 others. In honor of its 50 years of saving lives, Gift of Life is rallying the community to sign up 50,000 more organ donors and provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Learn more and sign up at donors1.org.