The Willis Knighton John C. McDonald Transplant Center is teaming up with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) to recognize Donate Life Month with a donor flag-raising ceremony.

Scheduled for April 5th at 10 a.m., the ceremony will occur at the auditorium of the Willis Knighton Eye Institute, located at 2611 Greenwood Road. Following the raising of the Donate Life flag at the entrance of Willis Knighton North at 10:30 a.m., a reception honoring donors will take place at the Eye Institute.

During the month of April, the transplant center will raise awareness about the crucial need for individuals to register as organ donors and provide the gift of life. Various special days of emphasis will be observed on Willis Knighton campuses, accompanied by donor drives held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the cafeteria at Willis Knighton North (April 8), Willis Knighton Bossier (April 9), Willis Knighton Pierremont (April 10), Willis Knighton South (April 11), and Willis Knighton Rehabilitation Institute (April 12).

Currently, there are over 103,000 individuals, including men, women, and children, listed on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) transplant waiting list in the United States, with over 2,000 of them located in Louisiana. The majority of those awaiting organ donation in Louisiana require kidneys, which can be sourced from both deceased and living donors, as every individual is born with two of them. It’s noteworthy that one donor has the potential to save up to eight lives.

Since performing its inaugural transplant in 1989, the Willis Knighton John C. McDonald Transplant Center has facilitated over 2,200 transplants. As the sole transplant center north of New Orleans, it offers liver, kidney, pancreas, and living donor kidney transplants to patients in the region. For further information, visit wkhs.com/transplant.