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28 Oct

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News Press Release Uncategorized

2015 Donate Life Rose Parade Float to Feature Roses Dedicated to California Peace Officer Heroes

Fallen Peace Officers Not Forgotten

 TUSTIN, Calif., Oct. 28, 2014 – Southern California’s law enforcement community joined Donate Life California and the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation Tuesday in honoring fallen peace officers during a special Donate Life Rose Dedication Ceremony. Dedications, written by family members, will be placed with fresh roses in the Dedication Garden on the Donate Life Float in the 2015 Rose Parade®.

DLFloat_5w_300dpi_rgbIn its 12th year, the Donate Life Rose Parade Float has become the world’s most visible campaign to raise awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation. Millions of people view the Rose Parade each year, held on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. Donate Life California and the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation hosted the Rose Dedication Ceremony at the Orange County Sheriff’s Training Academy in Tustin.

Organ donation and transplantation affects people from all walks of life, including law enforcement officers. Corporal Steve Ahearn, Santa Ana Police Department, is one of the more than 22,000 Californians waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. He’s been on dialysis for three years awaiting a kidney donor to save his life so he can continue as a police officer.

“There is no doubt the fallen officers we are honoring today are heroes. They gave their lives for us all,” said Corporal Steve Ahearn, Santa Ana Police Department. “But you don’t have to take an oath to protect and serve to be a hero. Organ, eye and tissue donors are heroes, too.”

“Donor heroes and law enforcement heroes have something very important in common – they save lives,” said Charlene Zettel, CEO of Donate Life California. “California families and communities benefit from their generosity and sacrifice. We thank donor families and law enforcement families as well, for sharing their heroes with us.”

CPOMF logo“Many of California’s fallen officers continue to give the gift of life. Through their tragedy, others’ lives were saved and/or healed through organ, eye and tissue donation. Many other officers, like Officer Sablan, are able to give the gift of life without such a tragedy by selflessly offering to supply an organ to a fellow co-worker,” said Kevin Mickelson, president of the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation. “We, along with Donate Life California, wish to highlight the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation and to remember all donors, their families, and their recipients whose lives are forever changed thanks to the gift of life.”

Other speakers and presenters included:

  • Assemblyman Don Wagner, District 68
  • Captain David Moeller, California Highway Patrol – Santa Fe Springs
  • Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Orange County Sheriff’s Department
  • Chief Sergio Diaz, Riverside Police Department
  • Tom Mone, Chairman, Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee; CEO and Vice President, OneLegacy

The fallen officers recognized at today’s ceremony by their End of Watch (EOW) are:

The names and biographies of all California peace officers killed in the line of duty can be found at www.camemorial.org under the “Honor Roll” tab.

About the Donate Life Float in the 2015 Rose Parade®:

RP2015_DonateLife_NeverEndingStory_4x6x300The 2015 Donate Life Rose Parade Float, themed “The Never-Ending Story,” features 60 beautiful butterflies emerging from an open book. The butterflies ascend above 72 books adorned with floragraph portraits of deceased donors whose legacies are nurtured by their loved ones. Walking alongside the float will be 12 living organ donors. Seated among thousands of dedicated roses are 30 riders representing transplant recipients who celebrate the new chapters of their lives made possible only by the generosity of donors.

Since its debut on New Year’s Day 2004, the Donate Life Rose Parade Float has become the world’s most visible campaign to inspire people to become organ, eye and tissue donors. The campaign began as an idea expressed in a letter by lung recipient Gary Foxen (Orange, Calif.), who wanted to show gratitude to donors who make life-saving transplants possible.

Now, in addition to the 40 million viewers who view the Rose Parade in the stands and on TV, hundreds of events are held in cities and towns around the country to put the finishing touches on floragraph portraits and present dedicated roses to donor families and community partners that play a role in making donation possible.

Fast Facts from Donate Life California:

  • 21 people across the country die each day awaiting life-saving organ transplants.
  • One in five on the U.S. organ transplant waiting list lives in California.
  • All major religions support or permit organ, eye and tissue donation.
  • You’re never too old or sick to be a registered organ, eye and tissue donor.

About Donate Life California:

Donate Life California is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ, eye and tissue donor registry. As a public service, the registry assures all personal information is kept confidential and stored in a secure database, accessible only to authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. The registry is administered by Donate Life California and California’s four nonprofit, federally designated organ recovery organizations: Donor Network West (formerly CTDN), Lifesharing, OneLegacy and Sierra Donor Services. For more information about Donate Life California; how organ, eye and tissue donation saves and improves lives; and to sign up, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or in Spanish at www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

About the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation:

The California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation whose mission is to recognize and honor California’s peace officers who gave their lives ‘In the Line of Duty’ serving the citizens of this great state, and provides support to the family members left behind. For more information, go to www.camemorial.org.

08 Oct

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Governor Brown Says “YES!” to e-Registration for Organ, Eye & Tissue Donation

Real-time Data Collection Will Save More Lives in California

SAN DIEGO, Calif., October 8, 2014 – Smart phones are the state’s latest tool for saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law AB 2399 (J. Pérez), which allows Donate Life California to electronically register individuals to be organ, eye and tissue donors by scanning their driver license or state-issued identification (ID) card into a secure smart phone application.

“e-Registration is fast, simple, accurate and secure. Using current technology to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor makes the process quicker and more efficient at community events,” said Cindy Siljestrom, president of the Donate Life California Board of Directors. “We hope to increase California’s registry numbers to reflect the true generosity of Californians by making registration as easy as possible.”

“I am pleased the Governor has signed AB 2399, to make it easier to verify a person has elected to become an organ donor,” said Assembly Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez. “With so many thousands of Californians awaiting an organ donation, it’s vital that we take every step to ensure that those Californians who wish to donate their organs have their wishes honored; and this legislation helps ensure that outcome. I also want to thank Donate Life California for their efforts on this bill and for all the work they do to promote organ donation throughout California.”

The majority of people on the Donate Life California Organ, Eye & Tissue Donor Registry sign up through the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). However, only about 32 percent of licensed drivers in California are registered donors, despite a 2012 national survey stating that 94.9 percent of U.S. adults support donation.1 Sadly, California has one of the lowest state donor registration rates in the country, despite having the largest waiting list with more than 22,000 people needing life-saving transplants.

e-Registration will make it easier for people to become registered donors. Individuals can sign up onto the Registry in a matter of seconds while at community events and health fairs throughout the state by scanning their DMV ID card or driver license through a handheld smart phone device.

How E-Registration works:

  1. Scan the DMV ID card or driver license through an encrypted smart phone device
  2. ID holder confirms the information and desire to register as a donor
  3. Upload the information to the Donate Life California Organ, Eye & Tissue Donor Registry

1 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Behavior sponsored by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Fast Facts from Donate Life California:

  • 18 people across the country die each day awaiting life-saving organ transplants.
  • One in five on the U.S. organ transplant waiting list lives in California.
  • All major religions support or permit organ, eye and tissue donation.
  • You’re never too old to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor.
  • Do not rule yourself out! People with all medical conditions are potential donors.

About Donate Life California:
Donate Life California is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ, eye and tissue donor registry. As a public service, the registry assures all personal information is kept confidential and stored in a secure database, accessible only to authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. The registry is administered by Donate Life California and California’s four nonprofit, federally designated organ recovery organizations: Donor Network West (formerly CTDN), Lifesharing, OneLegacy and Sierra Donor Services. For more information about Donate Life California; how organ, eye and tissue donation saves and improves lives; and to sign up, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or in Spanish at www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

High concentration of Azithromycin in infected tissues is also caused by the fact that phagocytes and macrophages transport it to the site of infection and release in the area of inflammation. Azithromycin is prescribed in case of illness or injury at the time.

29 Apr

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Poem Inspired by Kim Pham’s Decision to be an Organ Donor

Kim Pham PianoApril 29, 2014 – The poem below, “To be of use” by Hind Baki, was submitted to Donate Life California in the week leading up to the Donate Life Run/Walk at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, April 26, 2014. It was written after an article in the Los Angeles Times by Anh Do that described the final hours in the hospital for Kim Pham, the young woman killed in a beating outside a Santa Ana nightclub on January 18, 2014, and how Kim’s choice to be an organ donor saved several lives. Nearly 100 of her family and friends walked in her honor at Saturday’s Donate Life Run/Walk. The family was presented a copy of the poem. We’re now sharing it with the Donate Life Community, with permission from the author.

To be of use

By Hind Baki
(Copyright April 2014)

In the country where I was born,
when all the neighbors came to mourn
they would fill our grieving days,
murmuring this Arab phrase:
“may the life be yours”

I didn’t understand it then,
but now that grief has come again,
I see the line continue,
connecting us like sinew.
What remains endures.

And that is why I cling to this,
my time on Earth, my right to bliss.
I will use each inch of me,
savor every memory.
All else will be yours.

Through the years, and what they’ve taken,
worn down, misused, pushed and shaken:
when it’s time to meet my fate,
I won’t need a single crate.
I will be just fine.

Take all of me that others need,
this skin, these eyes that loved to read.
I borrowed them; they’re on loan
just like this tissue and bone.
For a while, they’re mine.

Not yet—I still have much to do:
delight in songs, and dance with you,
words to write, and lips to kiss,
you under my fingertips.
My, how life’s divine!

High concentration of Azithromycin in infected tissues is also caused by the fact that phagocytes and macrophages transport it to the site of infection and release in the area of inflammation. Azithromycin is prescribed in case of illness or injury at the time.