{"id":3677,"date":"2018-05-08T19:54:46","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T19:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/?p=3677"},"modified":"2018-05-08T20:12:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T20:12:15","slug":"jamaica-hospital-celebrates-national-donate-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/jamaica-hospital-celebrates-national-donate-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaica Hospital Celebrates National Donate Life Month and Honors an Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" share_url=\"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/jamaica-hospital-celebrates-national-donate-life\/\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><\/div><div><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3678 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/donate-life-month-_4159.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"335\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/donate-life-month-_4159.jpg 680w, https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/donate-life-month-_4159-300x290.jpg 300w, https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/donate-life-month-_4159-310x300.jpg 310w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/>National Donate Life Month is observed each year in April as part of an effort to raise awareness of the need for organ donations and to encourage everyone to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. The observance is also a celebration of those who have saved lives by becoming donors.<\/p>\n<p>On April 20<sup>th<\/sup>, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and LiveOnNY, hosted a special flag raising ceremony to pay tribute to organ donor families and recipients. The event\u2019s special guest of honor was Giraldo Vega, father of Anthony Ruben Vega.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony became an angel in 2009 at the age of 11, after complications caused by hydrocephalus ended his life. His father shared how remarkable his son was, \u201cSince he was a baby he loved to sing and dance.\u00a0 He loved to perform and you could always expect a show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Anthony passed away, Mr. Vega learned about other families\u2019 need for organ donations and decided he needed to make a difference.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIf Anthony could save one life \u2014 one family from losing their son, daughter or family member \u2014 what better way to give a performance of a lifetime? Our decision to donate his organs not only saved one person\u2019s life but three,\u201d he informed reporters attending the event.<\/p>\n<p>While the loss of his son has been difficult, Mr. Vega takes pride in knowing that Anthony\u2019s legacy continues in the lives of others he helped to save.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3679 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/donate-life-month-4148.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"351\" height=\"236\" \/>Anthony\u2019s story deeply resonated with Jamaica Hospital Executive Vice President and \u00a0COO, William Lynch, who has been a staunch supporter and advocate for organ donation. Mr. Lynch thanked the Vega family for giving the gift of life.\u00a0 He went on to speak about lives that were saved earlier that week, thanks to an organ donor at Jamaica Hospital who donated a liver and two kidneys. \u00a0It is for this reason-the ability to save lives- that Jamaica Hospital encourages everyone in its community to register as organ donors.\u00a0 One donor\u00a0can save up to eight lives.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that due to the coordinated efforts of organizations such as LiveOnNY and Jamaica Hospital over 5 million New Yorkers have enrolled in the New York State Donate Life Registry as donors.<\/p>\n<p>Our hospital will continue to work tirelessly to raise awareness for organ donation and help further increase the number of registrants to the New York State Donate Life Registry. To learn more about becoming a donor, visit www. donatelife.ny.gov<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ShareNational Donate Life Month is observed each year in April as part of an effort to raise awareness of the need for organ donations and to encourage everyone to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. The observance is also &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/jamaica-hospital-celebrates-national-donate-life\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3677"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3687,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677\/revisions\/3687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medisyshealth.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}