HealthAlliance Security Manager Martin Duffy raises a “Donate Life” flag
in front of the hospital’s Broadway Campus
KINGSTON – A special flag is flying in front of the HealthAlliance’s Broadway hospital campus in Kingston to honor a patient who donated her kidneys after her death.
The kidneys were used in kidney disease research.
The “Donate Life” flag, raised Wednesday, will fly beneath the American flag in front of the hospital for a week and then be presented to the organ donor’s family.
“This is a wonderful way of honoring a woman who donated her kidneys and extending that honor to her family,” said Krista Usko, a HealthAlliance registered nurse who was involved with the patient’s care.
Shaina Kaye, a hospital and community services specialist at the Center for Donation and Transplant in Albany, organs for research are very important.
“They help researchers make powerful strides in the fight against kidney disease, saving and improving the lives of others,” Kaye said.
In Ulster County, 29.2 percent of all adults 18 and older have joined the state Donate Life Registry; the state average is 23.6 percent, according to the New York Alliance for Donation. New York ranks 50th nationally, with the lowest percentage of organ donors in the nation, the alliance said.
Locally, about 850 people are listed by Westchester Medical Center and Albany Medical Center as waiting for a donated organ so they can have a lifesaving transplant, according to figures from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
