West Penn Hospital will honor organ donors during its annual Rose Garden Ceremony on April 18 at 1:00 p.m. This event will pay tribute to organ donors and their families and celebrate the gift of life through a presentation of roses. The event will feature a powerful story from a donor family honoring Eli Bussotti. The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and hospital leadership will also give remarks.
DONOR FAMILY STORY:
- Joy Krumenacker and David Bussotti lost their son Eli at age 17 years old in October 2018 following a tragic car crash. Eli’s parents never imagined their son’s organs would go to someone who lives barely 5 miles away. Chad Ravotti received one of Eli’s kidneys and his pancreas. Ravotti had been living with Type 1 diabetes for 25 years and had reached Stage 5 renal failure. While he was waiting on the transplant list for a kidney and pancreas, he was undergoing eight hours of dialysis a day just to survive. Eli was Chad’s hero. Eli also gave eight people a new chance of life.
WHO:
- Dr. Brian Johnson, President and CEO of West Penn Hospital
- Susan Stuart, Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE)
- Angela Costa, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
- Dr. Ariel Aballay, Burn Center Director
- Jacqueline Drahos, Manager Quality Services
- Joy Krumenacker, Donor Family
WHEN:
Monday, April 18 at 1:00 p.m. – media should plan to arrive to the hospital by 12:45 a.m.
WHERE:
West Penn Hospital
4800 Friendship Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
WHY:
Across the country, more than 110,000 men, women and children await lifesaving organ transplant, and another person is added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list every ten minutes. In Pennsylvania alone, nearly 7,000 people are awaiting a lifesaving organ and thousands await tissue donation.
This ceremony is part of a series of events happening across Allegheny Health Network to celebrate National Donate Life Month, a designated time of year that helps increase awareness of organ donation and encourage more individuals to become registered organ donors.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
The ceremony will happen across the Emergency Department. Media should park in the gated lot across from the Emergency Department.
About Allegheny Health Network
Allegheny Health Network (AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is composed of 13 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, Health + Wellness Pavilions, an employed physician organization, home and community based health services, a research institute and a group purchasing organization. The Network provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, cardiovascular disease, cancer care, orthopedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, women’s health, diabetes and more. AHN employs approximately 21,000 people, has more than 2,600 physicians on its medical staff and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
