LVMC Commemorates Organ and Tissue Donations With Flag Raising

For the remainder of the month, a green and blue OneLegacy/Donate Life flag will fly on the flagpole at Lompoc Valley Medical Center, honoring the hundreds of thousands of donors and recipients whose lives have been impacted by organ, eye and tissue donation. 

During a ceremony Wednesday at LVMC’s round-about flagpole, hospital and OneLegacy representatives spoke of the impact of organ and tissue donation. 

To help facilitate organ recovery and placement, Lompoc Valley Medical Center is one of several hundred hospitals and transplant centers in California working directly with OneLegacy, the largest nonprofit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization in the world.  

Hospitals across the nation are raising or displaying Donate Life flags throughout National Donate Life Month in April. More than 103,000 men, women and children are currently awaiting lifesaving transplants in the U.S. – including about 20,000 in California. 

“We could not do a single donation, accomplish a single thing, without the amazing hard work and dedication of all the healthcare team members of every single hospital we partner with,” said, Regional Manager of Hospital Partnerships for OneLegacy Colleen Okyere. 

Calling OneLegacy to facilitate a donation is difficult for nurses, doctors and social workers, because they’re acknowledging that the patient will likely not survive, she said. 

“But it’s also a moment of saying, ‘I may have the opportunity to heal and save someone else by making this phone call,’” Okyere added. 

In the last two years, Lompoc has had more than 300 lives healed through tissue donation, she said.  

“It’s a huge impact – 300 individuals whose lives have been impacted by tissue donation from your facility.” she said. “It’s an amazing contribution to your community. It’s something that I don’t think everybody sees, but we see that and acknowledge that and we could not do that without you.”  

One organ donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance the lives of more than 75 people through tissue donation. More than 19.5 million Californians have designated themselves as organ and tissue donors. 

LVMC Board President Leslie Kelly, RN, spoke of her personal observances of the aftermath of organ and tissue donation during her career, including a mother who was able to hear the transplanted heart of her dead son in the recipient’s body.  

“It’s certainly a very valuable and meaningful program in our community, and one we definitely want to support,” Kelly said. 

There are many ways organs and tissue can be used to help save lives, Kelly said.  

“There’s a lot of opportunities,” she said. “You can see how just one donation really effects multiple people …. This is a decision that’s sometimes difficult for families. To pre-sign-up to be an organ donor really takes that stress off your family … It’s something to consider and is certainly something worthwhile to participate in.” 

Ventura County resident Ellen Langston is a OneLegacy Ambassador. She told a moving story of her 15-year-old son Chris’ death three decades ago in Taiwan from a gunshot wound and the lives he saved by being a donor. 

One of the things her son used to say, she noted, was “What do?” 

“And this is the way he’s been able to ‘do’ through these years … He helped a lot of people in Taiwan,” including a severely burned man who received her son’s skin. The man survived and was later married and invited the Langstons to the wedding. 

The family donated Chris’ liver, kidney and corneas as well. 

She quoted Walt Disney, who said, “‘The way to get started is to stop talking and begin doing.’ Chris is still doing.” 

Santa Barbara resident Scott Burns told of becoming a kidney recipient 10 years ago. His donor was Vivian Buetel, a nurse at Cottage Hospital who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. He became a OneLegacy Ambassador to share their combined story. 

Age and most medical conditions do not exclude someone from donating and all potential donors are evaluated by medical professionals on a case-by-base basis. Organ donations can include heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine. 

People may register at the local DMV or online at www.OneLegacy.org/Register.