Buildings go pink for Organ Donation Week 2023
Russell’s Hall Hospital and Dudley Council House have been lit up this week to help raise awareness about organ donation.
The buildings will be lit up pink from Monday to Sunday as part of Organ Donation Week, which runs from Monday 18 September to Sunday 24 September.
This year, Organ Donation UK is aiming to get 25,000 more people to register to become organ donors.
The NHS campaign, is also asking everyone to go pink for the week. Whether that’s baking a pink cake, wearing pink shoes or drinking a pink drink they’re encouraging people to share their pics on social media. People can use #organdonation and tag them @nhsorgandonor.
Councillor Ian Bevan, cabinet member for public health, said:
We support this important campaign every year. Organ donation not only changes lives but saves them too.
Being an organ donor is one of the most generous things you can do as it can transform so many lives from one selfless gift. I’d encourage everyone to find out more about the campaign and sign up as an organ donor.
Natalie Myatt, Specialist Nurse at the Midlands Organ Donation Team and Clinical Lead for Organ Donation, Dr Uppal at Russells Hall Hospital said:
Signing up to the Organ Donor Register only takes two minutes and can save the lives of up to nine people. Only around one per cent of people are ever in a position to give the gift of life through organ donation. It is an incredibly selfless and beautiful gift to save the lives of others, which is why it is so important we let our friends and families know our wishes about organ donation so they can honour this decision.
People can also join the Race for Recipients with organ donation teams and representatives around the country as they 'Race for Recipients' from 06:00 on Saturday the 16th of September, until midnight on Sunday the 24th of September. All 'Race for Recipients' targets represent meaningful milestones.
For example, targets include traveling a distance of 9km over the week to represent the 9 lives that can be saved by one donor all the way up to 7000km to represent the 7000 people currently waiting for a life saving transplant in the UK and the 50,000km regional milestone representing the number of people living today with a transplant in the UK.
In May 2020 the law around organ donation changed in England. All adults are now considered as having agreed to donate their own organs when they die, unless they record a decision not to donate, are in one of the excluded groups or have told their family that they don’t want to donate.