The Alabama Organ Center, in conjunction with Donate Life America, is celebrating National Donate Life Month and National Blue and Green Day on April 15 by changing various landmarks in the state to blue and green this week.
The locations joining in the celebration include:
- The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital Fountain
- Children’s of Alabama
- Birmingham Sign and Regions Park
- Rev Birmingham’s “Birmingham Lights” underpasses at 14th, 18th, 20th and 22nd streets
- Saturn V Rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center
- Alabama State Capitol building
- RSA Tower in Montgomery
- Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel
National Donate Life Month and National Blue and Green Day are celebrated each year in Alabama and across the United States in an effort to promote organ, eye and tissue donation. Supporters of this initiative are encouraged to wear blue and green on April 15 this year.
Each Donate Life Month features unique artwork that helps tell the story of donation. The art for 2016 is inspired by the sunflower, whose face contains as many as 2,000 seeds. “One sunflower has the potential to create an entirely new field of flowers, and as individuals, we each have a similar potential — to make life possible for many when we register our decision to become an organ, eye and tissue donor,” said Ann Rayburn, director of Education and Referral Services for the AOC. “One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, restore sight to two people through cornea donation and heal countless others through tissue donation.”
Currently, 52 percent of the U.S. adult population are registered as donors, and more than 2.2 million people from Alabama are registered. Still, the number of people in need of transplants continues to outpace the number of organs donated. More than 121,000 people are waiting for a transplant and a second chance at life.
“Registering your decision to become a donor is the most effective way to ensure you can save lives through donation and serves as a sign of hope and support for those who continue to wait,” Rayburn said.
Register to be an organ donor at alabamaorgancenter.org.