Med Center Health discusses the importance of National Donate Life Month [Video]

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – National Donate Life Month has been celebrated every April since 2003. Its purpose is to bring awareness to organ and tissue donation, while also providing an opportunity to honor those who have saved lives by becoming donors.

Each day, 17 people die waiting for an organ transplant and every eight minutes another person is added to the list.

In 2023, more than 33,000 Americans received a life-saving organ transplant, but there are still more than 100,000 on the national transplant waiting list.

In Kentucky, more than 1,000 people are waiting for organs. Med Center Health’s Director of Medical Services, Leslie Rossetter said there are two different ways a person can be a donor.

“There’s organ donation, where brain death criteria are met,” she said. “You’re able to donate your heart and your lungs, and liver and kidney, and lots of different other things, just depending …