Finger Lakes Today

UR Medicine Thompson Health is taking part in National Donate Life Month to emphasize the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation. On April 9, staff will raise a Donate Life flag at F.F. Thompson Hospital’s Constellation Center for Health and Healing, remaining on display until April 30. The initiative aims to encourage community members to enroll in the New York State Donate Life Registry.

Mary Kate Corey, Director of ICU/Observation Nursing at Thompson and overseer of the Donate Life Workgroup, reported that in 2024, Thompson had four organ donors, 11 eye donors, and 14 tissue donors. So far in 2025, there has been one organ donor, three eye donors, and five tissue donors.

Corey and the team will provide information on organ donation at a Donate Life table outside the hospital's cafeteria throughout the month. Donate Life New York State notes that nearly 8,000 state residents are on the national organ transplant waitlist. An organ donor can potentially save eight lives and help 75 others through eye and tissue donation.

Living donations is another avenue for contributing. The federal Health Resources & Services Administration states kidneys or sections of the liver and other organs can be donated by living donors. Annually, about 6,500 living donation transplants occur.

Colleen Culp, a phlebotomist at Thompson from Palmyra, donated part of her liver to a stranger in 2024 via the University of Rochester Medical Center’s transplant program. She later connected with the young mother who received the donation, discovering shared interests.

“They couldn’t have matched me with anybody better. She’s phenomenal,” Culp reflected. “There are so many people out there who really would like a second chance at life!”