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Flags Fly at South Texas Health System Hospitals To Honor Donors and Recipients During National Donate Life Month

Monday, April 6th, 2009


Daniel "Rick" McLean, MD, Medical Director and Transplant Surgeon, Charles E. Moritz, MD Medical Director and Transplant Nephrologist, and Jose Farias-Jimenez, MD, Transplant Surgeon collaborate

Mega Metropolis Health & Fitness

McAllen, TX (March 25,2009) -- Across the nation, thousands of Donate Life flags will be flown and displayed throughout Donate Life month in April as part of “Flags Across America,” a Donate Life America initiative which honors and celebrates the hundreds of thousands of donors and recipients whose lives have been affected by organ, eye and tissue donation.

The South Texas Transplant Center at McAllen Medical Center will host a special flag raising ceremony in the company of donor families, kidney recipients and hospital staff at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7 at McAllen Medical Center. The community is invited to stop by and learn more about organ donation in Texas from volunteer representatives for the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance who will provide donor registration and information in the lobby at McAllen Medical Center.

The South Texas Transplant Center is the first and only comprehensive transplant service center in the Rio Grande Valley. Its physicians Daniel "Rick" McLean, MD, Medical Director and Transplant Surgeon, Charles E. Moritz, MD Medical Director and Transplant Nephrologist, and Jose Farias-Jimenez, MD, Transplant Surgeon collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals to provide donor patients with the highest quality of care possible – both before and after transplantation. The team has successfully preformed 35 kidney transplant procedures since the center’s opening in 2007.

”Since our center’s opening, we’ve met many courageous individuals who’ve demonstrated the ultimate act of generosity by becoming a kidney donor,” says Joe Riley, CEO for McAllen Medical Center. “We are delighted to join in the national celebration commemorating them for being heroes in the lives of those they’ve helped save.”

South Texas Health System Celebrates Donate Life Month 2-2-2-2

Sara Pace Jones, Chairwoman for Donate Life America says she is pleased to join together with partnering donor hospitals, transplant centers, donation organizations and in the community to spread the Donate Life message and honor organ and tissue donors. “We hope this nationwide display of flags will make people stop, take notice and take action to sign up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor,” says Jones. “Taking the appropriate action to sign up to be a donor in your state could give someone a very precious gift-- Life.”

Edinburg Regional Medical Center and McAllen Heart Hospital are expected to join McAllen Medical Center that day in flying Donate Flags at their facilities during Donate Life Month in April.

To learn how to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor, visit www.donatelife.net.

About Donate Life America:

Founded in 1992, Donate Life America’s mission is to serve as a national voice and inspire all people to save and enhance lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

About South Texas Transplant Center:

The South Texas Transplant Center in McAllen, Texas opened in 2007 to provide the Rio Grande Valley’s first renal transplant services south of San Antonio. Since the center’s opening, 35 kidney transplant procedures have been performed and hundreds of individuals screened for donation. The South Texas Transplant Center also has a clinic in Harlingen, Texas. For more information visit www.southtexashealthsystem.com.

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