On February 18^th and 19^th, Donate Life America held a retreat in Tampa to create awareness for organ, eye and tissue donations.  Donate Life America is a not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donation. Donate Life America manages and promotes the national brand for donation, Donate Life, and assists Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registries; developing and executing effective multi-media donor education programs; and motivating the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Did you know that More than 123,000 men, women and children currently need lifesaving organ transplants? Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list. Sadly, an average of 21 people die each day because the organs they need are not donated in time. In 2014, more than 8,500 deceased donors made possible approximately 24,000 organ transplants. In addition, there were nearly 6,000 transplants from living donors. Nearly 48,000 sight-restoring corneal transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2014. Each year, approximately 30,000 tissue donors save and heal lives.

Jason K. Woody, CEO of the Lions Eye Institute and Chairman of the Board of Donate Life America is an unwavering supporter of the work that Donate Life America does.  “In today’s world, it is so important for more people to become donors.  With the dramatic improvements in healthcare people are now living much longer.  Because of this, more people require organ, eye and tissue donations.” Watch this short video from Donate Life America’s website to learn how Donation and Transplantation works.

The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research helps to satisfy the need for eye transplants as well as helping patients who suffer from eye disease.  The Institute was founded as an eye bank and is dedicated to the evaluation and distribution of eye tissue for transplantation.  Now more than 40 years later, they are even more committed to providing the best care and service possible.

They have been able to expand so they are not only an eye bank, but an ocular research center as well.  There they conduct research studies of healthy and diseased ocular tissue in hopes of better understanding what leads to blindness.

The Lions Eye Institute has created a Foundation where they donate over $1 million of their services annually and give thousands of dollars to ocular research to improve eye health.

To learn how to get involved with the work that the Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research does click here.  If you have decided that you want to further the cause by becoming an organ donor, visit Donate Life America’s website today!