April is National Donate Life Month. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Gift of Hope have partnered to bring awareness to the community on organ donation.

This month also celebrates and honors donors and recipients whose lives have been impacted. The community is invited to attend a ceremony on Sunday, April 22 at 3 pm in the Good Samaritan Hospital Oak Rooms to celebrate lives touched by organ donation.

Critical care nurses, a trauma surgeon and a neurosurgeon on staff at Good Samaritan Hospital encourage the community to learn about organ donation and to register today in the following YouTube video: http://bit.ly/J0Vghw or visit www.youtube.com/advocatehealthcare.

With more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for a donor, it’s important to know the facts and decide if you’d like to be a registered organ donor.

Contrary to common belief, signing the back of your driver’s license does not make a person an eligible donor. By signing up through the registry at www.giftofhope.org, donors are ensured that their requests will be met. If you are unsure of your registration, you can reaffirm your decision on the site, also.

Dr. James Cole, trauma surgeon on staff at Good Samaritan Hospital, treats patients with devastating injuries every day.

“Although impossible to think of losing a loved one, it’s more tragic to not allow that loved one’s organs to sustain the life of another individual who is desperately in need of those organs,” Cole said.