MARCH WILL BE HELD WEDNESDAY; ORGAN, TISSUE DONATIONS TO BE STRESSED THIS WEEK

CAPE GIRARDEAU - St. Francis Medical Center will observe National Organ & Tissue Donor Awareness Week Wednesday with its fourth annual donor awareness march.

The American Council on Transplantation has designated the week as April 21-27, reported the hospital. It is intended to draw attention to the ongoing shortage of organ and tissue donations.

The march will take place Wednesday at 6 p.m. The walk will begin in front of the hospital and will cross Route K to West Park Mall, where a brief program will take place.

Cheri Huckstep-Reed, coordinator of St. Francis' organ and tissue donation program, said there are currently more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for organ transplants. Every year nearly half of all those waiting for life-saving transplants die before suitable donor organs become available.

Several attendance prizes, donated by the Mid-America Transplant Association, will be presented, including dinner for two at Fisherman's Net in Cape Girardeau, dinner for two at Mike Shannon's in St. Louis, and Cardinal baseball tickets.

More information about the walk, as well as organ and tissue donation in general, is available by calling Huckstep-Reed in the St. Francis Critical Care Center, 339-6138, or by calling the Mid-America Transplant Association in St. Louis, 991-1661.