Ascension St. Clare’s Hospital in Weston was among the more than 85 Donate Life Wisconsin member and partner hospital organizations that participated in a statewide Donate Life Flag raising ceremony and moment of silence to promote the mission of organ, tissue and eye donation, and honor donors and their families on Monday, April 2.

Donate Life Wisconsin created the inaugural Pause to Give Life event as a new, statewide observance to take place annually on the first Monday morning of April to mark the start of National Donate Life Month.

“One donor can save eight lives and this event is meant to recognize the more than 114,000 patients waiting for a life-saving transplant,” said Kori King, Intensive Care Unit Supervisor at Ascension St. Clare’s Hospital in Weston. “Of those patients, more than 2,000 are right here in Wisconsin.”

The Donate Life flag was first introduced in 2006. Since then it has become a national symbol of unity, remembrance and hope, while honoring those touched by donation and transplantation. During the past 12 years, 50,000 Donate Life Flags have flown across America.

Wisconsin Organ, Tissue and Eye Donation Facts:

•Anyone age 15 and a half or older can register as a donor regardless of health, gender or ethnic or racial background.

•Nearly 3 million, or almost 60 percent of those eligible, have said yes and registered as donors.

•More than 800 organs were transplanted and more than 700 people received an organ transplant in 2017.

•There were more than 160 living kidney and liver donors, nearly 250 deceased organ donors, nearly 1,000 tissue donors and nearly 1,200 eye donors in 2017.

Ascension St. Clare’s Hospital was recently recognized with an Excellence in Tissue Donation Award from the University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation for their ongoing commitment to saving lives through organ donation.

In 2017, Ascension St. Clare’s had a donation consent rate of nearly 75 percent, which made possible approximately 525 gifts of tissue for transplant, giving people improved mobility, clarity of sight and freedom from pain.

“A successful organ donation program is a true team effort,” said King. “Patients who became donors came from our emergency department and intensive care unit with support from our operating room, lab spiritual care and house supervisors.”

More information on organ, tissue and eye donation in Wisconsin can be found at DonateLifeWisconsin.org or at a Wisconsin DMV Service Center.