Cedars-Sinai raises flag to encourage life-saving organ donation

photo by Edwin Folven
Richard Aidem showed photos of his grandchildren and said organ donations gave him the opportunity to be part of their lives. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center called attention to Donate Life Month by hoisting a flag on April 1 on a median between its North and South Towers. Members of the public are encouraged to sign up for organ donation, potentially saving another human life.

“It saved my life,” said Richard Aidem, a 2104 heart transplant recipient who joined staff from the hospital’s Comprehensive Transplant Center at the flag raising ceremony. “I wouldn’t be around today. I was a couple of days away from dying. The goal is to spread the word, because there’s a big shortage of organs.”

Aidem, of Valencia, was joined by fellow transplant recipients David O’Neil and Richard Udin. Aidem serves as an ambassador for OneLegacy, an organ procurement organization that works with hospitals including Cedars-Sinai to save lives. OneLegacy and Cedars-Sinai are highlighting the crucial importance of organ and tissue donation, as thousands of lives are dependent on it. People can sign up to donate when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or state ID with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, or can register online through organizations such as OneLegacy.

Dr. Tsuyoshi Todo, surgical director of kidney transplantation at Cedars-Sinai and director of the Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship, said the need for organ donation is urgent.

“Transplantation is a life-saving procedure. Many patients with end organ failure, from liver failure to kidney failure, patients that are on dialysis, heart and lung failure – when you have end organ disease, the only thing we can do to save somebody is with transplantation,” Todo said. “Unfortunately, organs don’t grow on trees, so we really have to rely on the generosity of donors and donor families.”

Todo said Donate Life Month was established in April 2003 by the federal government to raise awareness about organ donation, and has tripled the annual number of donations nationwide from approximately 6,000 to 18,000. Cedars-Sinai completed nearly 700 transplants last year.

“There are still over 100,000 folks waiting for transplantation every year, so we’re not even close,” Todo added. “But hopefully, we’ll get there, and this is just a small part of it.”

The Donate Life flag will fly at the medical center throughout April on Gracie Allen Drive just west of George Burns Road. For information on the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, visit cedars-sinai.org/programs/ transplant.html.

The Donate Life Flag will fly throughout April at Cedars-Sinai. (photo by Edwin Folven)