St. Catherine of Siena Hospital holds special ceremony for Organ Donation Awareness Month
In honor of April’s Organ Donation Awareness Month, St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, in collaboration with LiveOnNY, hosted a special flag-raising ceremony on April 2.
Heart transplant recipient Ed Schafer was present at the ceremony to share his story and also discussed the memorable moment when he met his donor family. He explained how it was an unforgettable moment when the donor’s mother asked to feel Ed’s heart beating. It was at that moment, she knew her son’s heart lived on, in Ed. Ed’s donor was only 32 years old when he passed away.
Pictured from left, Zach Matuk, RN; Megan Burrows, RN; Natasha Thomas, LiveOnNY; Ed Schafer, heart transplant recipient; Karen Cummings, LiveOnNY; Chris Nelson, Interim President, St. Catherine of Siena Hospital; Chris Boukas, St. Catherine’s Chief Operating Officer; Mary Ellen McCrossen, St. Catherine’s Community Relations Manager and kidney donor; Laurie Yuditsky, St. Catherine’s Vice President, Quality and Patient Safety; Leslie Callahan, St. Catherine’s Office Manager, Plant Operations. To register as an organ donor, go to LiveOnNY.org.
