HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital honors National Donate Life Month

Oconto Falls – More than 110,000 people across the United States are waiting for a lifesaving organ, tissue or eye donation; that’s more people than the country’s largest football stadium could hold. Of those, more than 2,000 are men, women and children in Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). 

To recognize the importance of donation, HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls is flying a “Donate Life” flag during the month of April as part of National Donate Life Month.

“Organ, tissue and eye donation is so meaningful and an opportunity to give life beyond your own,” says Colleen Koski, Clinical Director at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital. “Families often feel that it helps them through their grief, knowing that their loved one has given such an incredible gift to another human being.”

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports 90% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate, but only 60% are actively registered as donors. You can register to become an organ, tissue and eye donor at the Department of Motor Vehicles by mail or online at: DonateLifeWisconsin.org.

Did you know?

• One organ donor can save up to eight lives. Organs can help patients in liver, kidney or heart failure, those who suffer from cystic fibrosis, those on dialysis, and many other common illnesses.
• One cornea donor could restore sight to two people whose blindness may have been caused by a traumatic eye injury, a serious infection or other corneal conditions.
• One tissue donor could heal up to 75 people. Tissue is used to treat severe burns and abrasions, and in reconstructive surgery for patients such as breast cancer survivors. Donor tendons are used to repair torn ligaments and damaged veins. Bone is used to help heal fractures or prevent amputation. 

For answers to common questions regarding donation, please visit: www.donatelifewisconsin.org/answers.

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About HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital
HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital serves Oconto Falls and the surrounding communities as a federally designated critical access hospital with a 24-hour emergency department; urgent care; general, vascular, and orthopedic surgical services; inpatient and outpatient surgical and diagnostic services; rehabilitation; an oncology outpatient clinic; and women’s care. It was founded as Oconto Falls City Hospital in 1921 and became HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in 2014 when it joined Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS). As an affiliate of HSHS, HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital draws on the history of St. Francis of Assisi as it serves the health care needs of the region in Christ’s healing ministry, caring for all people. HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital also has six regional health center locations in affiliation with Prevea Health in Gillett, Lena, Mountain, Oconto, Oconto Falls and Suring. HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital Pharmacies are located in Gillett and Oconto Falls. For more information about St. Clare, please visit: www.stclarememorial.org.

About Hospital Sisters Health System
Hospital Sisters Health System’s (HSHS) mission is to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through our high quality, Franciscan health care ministry. HSHS provides state-of-the-art health care to our patients and is dedicated to serving all people, especially the most vulnerable, at each of our physician practices and 15 local hospitals in two states - Illinois (Breese, Decatur, Effingham, Greenville, Highland, Litchfield, O’Fallon, Shelbyville and Springfield) and Wisconsin (Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Oconto Falls, Sheboygan, and two in Green Bay). HSHS is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries,  and Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the founding institute. For more information about HSHS, visit www.hshs.org. For more information about Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, visit www.hospitalsisters.org.