The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) honored five Maryland hospitals, including Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Maryland, with the Medal of Honor for Organ Donation for substantially raising the organ donation rates of eligible donors in their facility during a 26 month award period ending in June 2009. The medals were awarded during a ceremony at the National Learning Congress on Organ Donation and Transplantation in Dallas, Texas. The other honored hospitals included Anne Arundel Medical Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, The University of Maryland Medical Center, and Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown.

"The commitment by these hospitals, and many others in Maryland, to increase organ and tissue donation at their institutions has helped many transplant recipients in our community and will continue in assisting the 1,884 hopeful recipients who are currently waiting in Maryland,” said Charlie Alexander, President and CEO of The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, a non-profit organization which helps facilitate the donation and recovery of human organs and tissues for transplantation and research along with providing advocacy, family support and comprehensive public and professional education.

The Medal of Honor is presented to hospitals and organ procurement organizations nationwide who achieve lifesaving organ donation rates of 75 percent or more for a sustained 12-month period. The Medal of Honor Award is one element of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, a national initiative to increase the number of lives saved through transplantation.

In 2008, the Living Legacy Foundation facilitated 119 organ donors. From the generosity of those donors, 329 people were given a second chance at life through organ transplant. Additionally, 373 Maryland citizens became tissue donors resulting in thousands who will benefit from life enhancing tissue transplants of bone, skin, vein and eyes.

With more than 103,000 people nationally waiting for a life-saving organ, of which nearly 2,000 are in Maryland alone, and hundreds of thousands more are in need of tissue transplants to restore their health, mobility and sight, The Living Legacy Foundation encourages Marylanders to say ‘yes’ to organ, eye and tissue donation by registering online at www.donatelifemaryland.org, completing a donor designation form or by checking ‘yes’ to organ donation when applying for or renewing a Maryland driver’s license.