In conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service’s issuance of a new
Organ & Tissue Donation stamp, the University of Nebraska Medical Center
and the Nebraska Health System will host a special event on Aug. 5 to sell
the new stamps and provide a special first-day stamp cancellation featuring
The Lied Transplant Center on the UNMC/NHS campus.
The event, which is open to the public, will be held in the West
Atrium on the first level of the NHS Outpatient Care Center at 44th and
Emile streets. The official ceremonial portion of the event will run from
10 to 10:30 a.m. Following this, the stamps will be sold and cancelled
until 1 p.m. Participants in the event will be Omaha Mayor Hal Daub, Omaha
City Councilman Subby Anzaldo, Dr. Alan Langnas, chief of transplantation
for UNMC/NHS, Dr. Beth Reed, director of the UNMC/NHS Oncology/Hematology
Special Care Unit, Dr. Byers Shaw, professor and chairman of UNMC’s Department
of Surgery, EvaJon Sperling, Omaha postmaster, Jerry Tagge, former quarterback
for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, organ, tissue and bone marrow recipients
as well as a family member who donated a loved one’s organs.
In addition, several organizations will be represented at the
event including the Nebraska Organ Retrieval System, the Organ and Tissue
Donor Task Force of Nebraska, the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles,
New Hearts, an organization for solid organ transplant recipients, the
American Red Cross and the Lions Eye Bank. Numerous transplant recipients
and organ donor families will attend, and the latest information on organ
and tissue donation will be available.
The event will coincide with the national unveiling of the stamp
at the U.S. Transplant Games, which will be held Aug. 3 to 8 in Columbus,
Ohio. Omaha is one of nine cities competing to host the U.S. Transplant
Games in 2000. Other cities vying to be host are Austin, Texas, Buffalo,
N.Y., Gainesville, Fla., Houston, New Orleans, Pensacola, Fla., Tampa,
Fla., and Seattle.
“The shortage of organ and tissue donors is a critical issue for
the entire country,” Dr. Langnas said. “The new stamp will provide a wonderful
mechanism for making people aware of this shortage and perhaps get them
thinking about becoming a donor.” Dr. Langnas said the national waiting
list for an organ transplant now exceeds 60,000, including more than 400
people in Nebraska.
“We want to encourage people to use the Organ & Tissue Donation
stamp rather than save it,” Sperling said. “By using the stamp, people
will be getting the message out on the importance of being an organ and
tissue donor. It’s truly the ultimate gift one can give the gift of life.”
The stamp features two human forms, one blue and one clear, interlocking
and touching each other’s heart, as they seemingly join together as one
form. The copy on the stamp reads, “Organ & Tissue Donation…Share
your life.”
Postal officials will be at UNMC/NHS to sell sheets of the new
stamp and to provide first-day cancellation, a highly popular activity
for stamp collectors. Sperling will present a framed, enlarged print of
the Organ & Tissue Donation stamp to UNMC/NHS for permanent display.
In addition, the Postal Service will offer information on organ, tissue
and bone marrow donation at each of its stations and branches in Omaha
and will make the same material available in its employee break rooms.
The special Omaha cancellation depicts The Lied Transplant Center,
a 14-level building that is scheduled to open on the UNMC/NHS campus early
next year. The cancellation reads “Be a Hero For Life” in recognition of
the year-long campaign UNMC and NHS have been waging to create more awareness
in the state for organ, tissue and bone marrow donation. The special cancellation
will only be available for 30 days and only in Omaha.
Since the “Be a Hero for Life” campaign began last September with
a series of advertisements featuring former star University of Nebraska
athletes, UNMC/NHS have given out more than 13,800 information kits or
brochures on organ and tissue donation. The kits are available by calling
a toll-free number, (800) 95-ORGAN. The campaign also has included organ
and tissue donation presentations by UNMC/NHS representatives at 30 Omaha
companies and a series of “Tree of Life” tree planting ceremonies in several
communities around the state.
The Lied Transplant Center will serve as a national model for
other transplant programs. The building will feature 44 patient care suites
as well as several floors devoted to transplant research. Patients staying
at the transplant center will be part of an innovative cooperative care
delivery system in which family or friends serve as care partners for the
basic care needs of patients.
The Lied Transplant Center will house solid organ and bone marrow
transplant patients. Ranking as one the busiest transplant centers in the
country, the UNMC/NHS solid organ and bone marrow transplant programs achieved
a milestone earlier this year when the 5,000th transplant was performed.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the
state. More than $27 million in research grants and contracts are awarded
to UNMC scientists annually. In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are
responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska
than any other institution.
NHS is the partnership of Clarkson Hospital, the oldest hospital
in Nebraska, and University Hospital, the primary teaching facility for
UNMC. NHS operates 26 clinics and health care centers serving Omaha, Plattsmouth,
Gretna and Auburn in Nebraska; Council Bluffs and Shenandoah in Iowa. In
addition, NHS operates more than 350 outpatient clinics in 50 communities
in four states. The combined NHS system serves approximately 25 percent
of the Omaha-area market share.