Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber (CSSMCW) President and CEO Tom Kurtz joined the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) for a rose vial signing ceremony. The rose vial will be placed on the Donate Life Rose Parade float featured at the 2019 Tournament of Roses’ Parade.
Celebrating its 16th year of participating in the parade, the Donate Life Rose Parade float is the centerpiece of a national effort of more than 50 organizations to reach a broad audience with the simple, life-giving message that donation saves and heals lives.
“We are honored to contribute to this float, which commemorates donors who have given the gift of life, while encouraging those watching at home to register as organ, tissue and cornea donors,” said Kurtz.
This year’s float entry, Rhythm of the Heart, reflects the parade’s theme of The Melody of Life. The float celebrates the power of music in bringing us together. Perhaps no act is more emblematic of bringing people together than the act of donation; a single organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and improve the lives of as many as 75 more by donating their corneas and tissue. As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, tissue and cornea donation, the Donate Life Rose Parade float inspires viewers to help the over one million people in need of transplants each year.
“More than a quarter of a million life-saving transplants have been performed in the United States over the last thirty years, but tragically, twenty people still die each day waiting for a life-saving organ transplant,” said Susan Stuart, president and CEO, CORE. “We hope the Donate Life Rose Parade float will call attention to the importance of registering as a donor, and we are inspired that Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber has symbolized their commitment to donation by signing a rose vial to adorn the float.”
Register today to be an organ, tissue and cornea donor at core.org/register.
About Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber
Founded in 1906, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber (CSSMCW) is an independent, non-profit acute care hospital in northern Somerset County, bordering Cambria County. The 54-bed hospital shares a campus and collaborates with Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine at Windber (CSSIMMW), a private, non-profit biomedical research center. With more than 450 employees, CSSMCW is the fourth largest employer in Somerset County. CSSMCW’s mission is to provide excellence in personalized, quality health care services through innovation, research and education in response to community needs. For more information visit www.windbercare.org.
About CORE
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of 58 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States. CORE works closely with donor families and designated healthcare professionals to deliver the gift of hope by coordinating the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. CORE also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs, tissues and corneas. With headquarters in Pittsburgh and an office in Charleston, West Virginia, CORE oversees a region that encompasses 150 hospitals and more than 5 million people throughout western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Chemung County, NY. For more information, visit www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.