LifeLink of Georgia is proud to announce that South Georgia Medical Center received a GOLD award for its organ, eye, and tissue donation and registration efforts through the Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign.
 
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, the campaign brings together national partners, local and regional organ, eye and tissue donation organizations, and hospitals throughout the nation to educate employees and their communities on the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation. The 736 hospitals who earned gold, silver, and bronze level recognition earned points for awareness and registry activities between August 1, 2014 and April 20, 2015.
 
“SGMC is a great champion for organ, eye, and tissue donation. We are proud of this accomplishment and applaud SGMC for making a difference in the lives of the more than 5,300 Georgians that are currently waiting for transplant,” says Michelle Burkett, RN, BSN, Hospital Development Liaison with LifeLink of Georgia, “It is because of these professionals’ unyielding dedication to saving lives that we applaud their achievements.”  
 
The need is real. Each day, an average of 79 Americans receive life-saving organ transplants and thousands more benefit from cornea and tissue transplants. These extraordinary gifts have been generously donated by ordinary people of all ages and backgrounds who took just a few minutes in a busy day to indicate their decisions to become organ, eye, and tissue donors. Every 11 minutes another person is added to the national transplant waiting list that currently lists over 123,000 people and sadly, approximately 22 people die daily because of the organ shortage.