Update: Because of the threat of bad weather, the ceremony location has been changed to WK Eye Institute.

The John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center will join with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) to mark Donate Life Month at a Donor Flag Raising Ceremony on Friday, April 6, at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at the main entrance of Willis-Knighton Medical Center, 2600 Greenwood Road in Shreveport. A reception honoring donors will follow at the Willis-Knighton Eye Institute Auditorium.

Throughout April the transplant center will raise awareness of the critical need for individuals to register as organ donors and provide the gift of life, including special days of emphasis on Willis-Knighton campuses. Donor drives will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the cafeteria at Willis-Knighton Medical Center (April 2), WK Pierremont Health Center (April 10), WK Bossier Health Center (April 18), Willis-Knighton South and the Center for Women’s Health (April 19) and WK Rehabilitation Institute (April 25). Staff from the transplant center will offer information about organ donation and encourage people to become organ donors.

Currently, more than 125,000 men, women and children are listed on the national transplant waiting list in the United States, more than 2,000 of those in Louisiana. Most people in Louisiana awaiting organ donation need kidneys, which can come from deceased or living donors since every person is born with two of them.

The John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center at Willis-Knighton, which performed its first transplant in 1989, is the only center north of New Orleans. Patients in our region can have transplants for liver, kidney and pancreas in Shreveport, allowing them to be close to their family and friends. To learn more about the center, visit wkhs.com/transplant