Annual memorial for organ donors in place at St. Luke’s

CEDAR RAPIDS — To honor organ donors and recipients, UnityPoint Health employees placed more than 900 paper butterflies on the walls of a ground-floor hallway at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids on Monday.

The goal: to raise awareness about organ donation.

The Butterfly Memorial has become an April staple at St. Luke's for at least the last six years, said Sandi McIntosh, director of emergency services and the infusion center at the hospital, 1026 A Ave. NE. Each April, in conjunction with National Donate Life month, employees hang large green butterflies with information about donors — their age, gender and the type of donation they made. Blue butterflies surrounding the green butterfly signify the number of organ, tissue or cornea recipients the donor helped. A handful of butterflies on the wall have been colored in by child organ recipients.

The butterflies hung Monday represent 2015 and 2016 donors and recipients at St. Luke's.

McIntosh said the memorial exists 'to really celebrate what the patients are giving.'

'They gave a lot for an actual donation or for research, both are important,' she said.

The goal is to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation and provide information about how to become an organ donor, McIntosh said. Though there are more organ donors now than in the past, there are still about 118,000 Americans in need of an organ transplant each year, according to Donate Life America.

It's much better than what it was, but I think there are a lot of people that still don't realize that when they get their driver's license that they can be an organ donor.

- Sandi McIntosh, director of emergency services and the infusion center at St. Luke's Hospital

Here are some other facts about organ donation, according to the Richard, Va.-based nonprofit:

• Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.

• An average 22 people die each day because organs they need are not donated in time.

• On average, 81 transplants take place every day in the United States.

• In 2014, the lives of 29,532 Americans were saved by organ donation.

• One donor can save up to nine lives through organ donation and save and heal more than 100 lives through tissue donation.

'It's much better than what it was, but I think there are a lot of people that still don't realize that when they get their driver's license that they can be an organ donor,' McIntosh said.

Iowans can sign up to become organ donors upon renewing or getting a new driver's license. They also can register at donatelife.net/register.

Posters with information on organ donation also dot the hallways at St. Luke's. McIntosh said she has seen people read the posters, and the hospital even has some organ recipients comment on which organs they received, which is what happened Monday afternoon when a woman mentioned receiving a cornea transplant.

'We've had families come back and specifically look for their (family member's) butterfly,' McIntosh said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8516; makayla.tendall@thegazette.com

Become a Donor

Here are two ways to become an organ donor:

• Sign up when you renew or get a new driver's license.

• Register at donatelife.net/register.