VCU Medical Center to Host Naming Ceremony for New Virginia Donor Mascot

By Malorie Burkett

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and Donate Life Virginia, the nonprofit organization committed to registering Virginians as organ, eye and tissue donors, will host an event to present the new Donate Life Virginia mascot and its name.

Donate Life Virginia also will unveil the new “Teen Program”— a DVD and curriculum that will be distributed to all health education and driver’s education teachers in Virginia, designed to educate teens about the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation.

The event will take place Thursday, Sept. 16, at 10:30 a.m. in the Gateway Building of the VCU Medical Center, 1200 E. Marshall St., Richmond. A few parking spaces have been set aside for media on a first-come, first-served basis, on the north side of East Clay Street at the intersection of 12th Street. Media are asked to mark their vehicles in an obvious fashion.

This summer, Donate Life Virginia, the statewide organ, eye and tissue donor registry, held a mascot-naming contest open to all Virginia residents in conjunction with the launch of the commonwealth’s new organ, eye and tissue donor registry website, www.DonateLifeVirginia.org.    The mascot is the Virginia state bird — a cardinal with “superhero” abilities. The mascot embodies the idea that Virginians who register as donors are the true heroes, saving lives.

Featured speakers will include Sheldon Retchin, M.D., CEO of the VCU Health System and vice president for health sciences; John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals; Marc Posner, M.D., VCU professor and chair of the Division of Transplantation Surgery; and Cindy Speas, president of Donate Life Virginia.

A 5-year-old liver transplant recipient and mother will both be available to speak with the media about the importance of organ and tissue donation, as will members of both VCU and Donate Life Virginia.

In Virginia alone, more than 2,200 individuals are awaiting a life-saving organ transplant, and several thousand more await a tissue or cornea transplant. Every day in the United States, 18 people die waiting for an organ transplant. Virginians can help by registering as organ, eye and tissue donors at the DMV whenever obtaining or renewing their driver’s license, or online at the new donor registry, www.DonateLifeVirginia.org.