One Legacy brings a rose to the CE
A leading organ procurement organization presented a special rose to the chief executive of the Los Alamitos Medical Center on Wednesday to express appreciation for the hospital’s effort to have organs donated and asked him to sign a note that will ride in the upcoming Rose Parade.
According to Cynthia Connally, donation development coordinator for the One Legacy Foundation, the rose is symbolic of the organ donors from Los Alamitos Medical Center who have already saved many lives this year.
The One Legacy Foundation is a local organ procurement organization, which serves it’s community by partnering with 220 hospitals in a seven-county region of greater Los Angeles, said Connally. “We are dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.”
Donor donations through Sept. 30 of this year from the team at Los Alamitos Medical Center, said Connally, included five organ donors, which saved 14 lives, and twenty tissue donors. Each tissue donor can heal up to 75 people, she said.
In appreciation for the donations, Connally presented to Los Medical Center CEO Kent Clayton a single red rose, asking him to sign a special tag attached to it. She said the tag would be placed on a fresh rose and onto the Donate Life parade float themed “Light in the Darkness” in the Jan. 1, 2020 Rose Parade.
“We partner with DLA. Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization leading its national partners and Donate Life State Teams to increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissues available to save and heal lives through transplantation while developing a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility,” said Connally.
As a result of the partnership, she said Clayton’s signature will represent Los Alamitos Medical Center on the Donate Life America Rose Parade float themed “Light in the Darkness.” Each of the participating donor hospitals and medical institutions around the nation will get a dedicated rose in the dedication garden on the float.
“The rose will be lovingly placed in a dedication garden” on the float, said Connally. “Thousands of dedications like yours will join riders, walkers and floragraph honorees to “bring hope to tens of millions or viewers,” she told Clayton.
She said Los Al Medical Center is a partner with the One Legacy Foundation. Clayton signed the rose and said the relationship with One Legacy/Donate Life has been “a great partnership. We’re proud to help,” he said.
Connally said there will be fourteen riders on the “Light in the Darkness” float, she said, adding that most of them are donors, representatives of donor families or recipients who have applied for the honor of riding the float. The “floragraphs” are created like photos of heroic donors to represent and honor donors and their families.
As part of their ongoing agreement with OneLegacy, she said, Los Al Medical Center flies a special flag under the American flag for several days each time an organ donation occurs throughout the year.
The donor flag is flown to honor the donor and their families, said Connally. She said the donations noted in the recognition occurred only in the first nine months of the year. “That’s incredible,” she said.
