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Every 18 hours, a New Yorker dies while waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant because the organ he/she needs is not donated in time. With not enough residents registered as organ donors, Peconic Bay Medical Center has stepped forward to save lives by raising awareness about the importance of organ donation.
As part of their efforts, Peconic Bay Medical Center recently held a special event to support National Organ Donor Enrollment Day, marked each year on October 10th. As a non-profit hospital, Peconic Bay Medical Center provides state-of-the-art medical services for individuals on the east end of Long Island and central Suffolk County.
“With only 35 percent of New Yorkers actually registered as organ donors, raising awareness about the importance of organ donation
is critical,” said Andrew J. Mitchell, President and CEO of Peconic Bay Medical Center. “Receiving a vital organ is often a life or death situation for the recipient, and by simply registering to be a potential match, you have the ability to provide the greatest gift – to save someone’s life,” he added.
Thursday’s event on the hospital’s campus was marked with a flag-raising ceremony to commemorate all donors. The crowd then had the opportunity to hear about why organ donation is so important. Heartwarming stories of hope were shared about life-altering organ donations including a personal story by Peconic Bay Medical’s Center own Dr. Ken Mayer, head of the site’s hospitalist program, who received a kidney transplant from his wife.
“We are pleased to report that in the past five years, New York has been listed within the top 10 of the fastest-growing states with residents signing up to be organ donors,” said Dr. Mayer. “I am still alive today because of the kidney transplant that I received from my wife. With the same support of our community taking the simple steps to sign up, more people will continue to have a second chance at life,” he added.
Residents of New York ages 16 and older can register to be organ donors by joining the New York State Donate Life Registry at https://www.ny.gov/services/become-organ-donor. Everyone, regardless of age, race, health or ethnicity, should consider themselves potential organ and tissue donors.
About Peconic Bay Medical Center
Located in Riverhead, NY, Peconic Bay Medical Center is a non-profit hospital committed to providing exceptional care and improving the health of the communities it serves. Peconic Bay Medical Center offers wide-ranging, full-scope services and programs along with state-of-art technology. Peconic Bay Medical Center joined Northwell Health in 2016. For more information, visit PBMCHealth.org.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, about 750 outpatient facilities and more than 13,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 70,000 employees – 16,000-plus nurses and 4,000 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.