Forrest General Hospital Hosts Flag Dedication in Honor of National Donate Life Month

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (April 11, 2025) Forrest General Hospital’s Kaitlyn Cox, RN, knows all too well about organ donation. She lives it every day as the Patient Care manager in the ICU, but she also recently lost her father, who was an organ donor. Thanks to the job that Anna McLaurin does as a MORA Family Care specialist, it made Kaitlyn’s family’s difficult situation, and that of other families, much easier.

Both women spoke on Friday, April 11, as Forrest General Hospital hosted a Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) flag dedication at the hospital’s main entrance. The event honored donors and recognized the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation during National Donate Life Month. April 11 was also Blue & Green Day, a day to observe the month by wearing blue and green, the colors promoting the importance of the Donate Life message to register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor.

The Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) teamed up with Forrest General and other hospital partners across the state to promote National Donate Life Month during April. Throughout the month, they are placing emphasis on the need for individuals of legal age to indicate their desire to donate by signing up on the Mississippi Donor Registry at www.donatelifems.org.

FGH Director of Critical Care Services, Heather Keys, spoke proudly regarding Forrest General’s numbers concerning organ donations. “In 2024, Forrest General had the highest consent rate for organ donation in the state with 70% of families saying ‘yes’ to organ donation,” she said. “As a result of those gifts, 57 individuals received a life-saving transplant from organ donors at Forrest General,” noting that a single tissue donor has the potential to enhance the lives of more than 75 individuals. “In 2024, there were 48 tissues donors, the most ever at Forrest General in a single year. Those 48 tissue donors helped approximately 3,600 individuals through their tissue donation.”

Keys explained there are currently 1,000 Mississippians waiting for a life-saving transplant, whether a heart, liver, kidney, or pancreas. She provided ways citizens can say ‘yes’ to donation – through opportunities when you renew your driver’s license or hunting and fishing license, by registering through your iPhone Health app, or by registering at registerme.org.

FGH ICU Patient Care manager, Kaitlyn Cox, RN, whose father passed away at Forrest General in February after suffering a massive heart attack, explained that this process was really different for her as this was family, and not someone who was a stranger brought into the hospital. “But I found it very comforting, thanks to my Forrest General family,” she said.

“This was all a surprise,” Cox said. “Starting from the minute he entered the door, I was in communication with our ER staff, and the care they provided was fantastic. When my father arrived in the ICU he was in very critical condition.” She explained the process hospital staff members go through to contact the MORA team. One of the first things that happened was one of my staff members said to me, ‘Your dad is an organ donor. Did you know that?’ And I didn’t. I was very shocked, but the biggest peace came over me. I knew in that moment that no matter what the outcome was, that somebody else was about to have their life changed dramatically.”

She noted while the process was not a quick one, the communication between team members never stopped. “There was communication from the start of what the plan was, the process, the timeframe, to make sure we got it right,” Cox said. “It was a long process, but there was so much peace in my heart and my family’s heart, knowing my dad was going to save somebody else.”

Cox introduced Anna McLaurin, a MORA Family Care specialist, who showed up on her day off to be with Cox’s family.

“While I have had the opportunity to work with Kaitlyn here in the hospital for the last couple of years, this was a unique opportunity to be there for Kaitlyn and her family,” McLaurin said. “What I do as a family care specialist is have those hard conversations at the worst time of your life, but I’m also there for support and guidance. I’m there as a listening ear, for all the things. We become a family and build relationships. We want to get to know the donor.”

She stressed that it’s not always easy to have conversations with our loved ones about organ donation. “But whatever decision you make, make your wishes known to your family. That saves them so much during that difficult time.”

“I would like to thank Forrest General Hospital and the families who have given the gift of life. They have had a huge impact on individuals and families in our community over the past year,” said Joel Stevens, MORA representative.

MORA serves 67 counties or 37,296 square miles in the state.                                     

For more information about organ donation, visit forresthealth.org/patients-visitors/organ-tissue-donation and to learn more about Forrest General, visit forrestgeneral.com.

Sidebar

Did you know that there are currently more than 103,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant? In Mississippi alone, there are more than 1,300 waiting. In the United States, a new person goes on the waiting list every 8 minutes. Did you also know that an average of 17 people die each day while on the waiting list for an organ donation?  MORA and Donate Life MS are working to raise awareness on the issue of organ, eye, and tissue donation.  

When you think of organ donations, you probably think big: hearts, lungs, kidneys, etc. But tissue groups like heart valves, tendons, and ligaments can also be useful. From just a single donor, up to eight lives can be saved through organ donation, one eye donor can restore sight to two people, and between 50 and 75 lives can be healed through tissue donations like heart valves, tendons, and ligaments.  

There were more than 48,000 transplants performed in 2024. More than 7,000 of those were from living donors, while more than 17,000 were from deceased donors. As of September 2024, more than 89,000 people (86%) were waiting on kidneys for transplant followed by liver (9%), heart (3%), and pancreas and lung (each at 1%). The age range which has the highest number of people on a waiting list are those between the ages of 50 and 64, followed by those over 65 years of age.

According to a sample of the U.S. population, 90% of adults support organ donation, but only 60% are actually signed up as donors. As of 2022, 170 million people in the U.S. were registered as donors.

WHAT CAN BE DONATED?

Organs include:

• Heart
• Liver
• Kidneys
• Lungs
• Pancreas
• Small Intestine

Tissues include:

• Corneas
• Eyes
• Skin
• Bone
• Tendons
• Ligaments
• Vessels
• Heart Valves