MISSISSIPPI ORGAN RECOVERY AGENCY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION NOW OPEN

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Nina Strother

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, January 9, 2018 – Flowood, MS – Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) has announced that the agency’s 2018 scholarship application process is now open. For the fourth straight year, MORA will present $6,500 in scholarships in May to high school seniors who understand the need for organ, eye and tissue donation in Mississippi and across the country.

Eleven $500 scholarships will be awarded in the spring, as well as a $1,000 Gift of Lifescholarship, that will go to the top student applicant.

After a record number of applicants (265) from a record number of high schools (94) in 2017, MORA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kevin Stump, expects the list of applicants to be even higher this year. “We have seen interest in donation rise among young people through the recent years,” said Stump, who is in his 24^th year as the agency’s CEO. “We feel this is because either a young person has been touched by donation through a personal experience or that they are becoming educated about the need of the lifesaving gifts of donation,” Stump added.

Seniors applying for the MORA scholarships must meet certain criteria. First, they must be a graduating senior from an accredited Mississippi high school. Those seniors must also must have been accepted by a community college or university in Mississippi, or have intentions of 2018 fall enrollment. They must also have a grade point average of 2.5 or above, include two letters of recommendation one from a teacher and one from an adult of the student’s choice and include an essay of 300 to a maximum of 750 words about their connection to donation, why they are registered donors or the importance of encouraging others to be donors.

For more information concerning these scholarships, you can contact Susan Bonds, Community Outreach Coordinator, via email at sbonds@msora.org or by phone at 662-841-1960.

Click here to download the 2018 MORA Scholarship Application

Applications must be postmarked or hand delivered no later than Wednesday, February 14, 2018 to:

Susan Bonds

Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency

Midtown Pointe

499 Gloster Creek, Suite F1

Tupelo, MS 38801

###

For media inquiries:

Chuck Stinson

Director of Community Services and Relations

Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency

cstinsons@msora.org

601.936.8610 (work)

601.383.1221 (cell)

At present, approximately 1,300 Mississippians and 116,000+ Americans are in need of a lifesaving transplant. A new patient is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 22 people die each day awaiting a lifesaving transplant that never comes. One organ donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor can save or improve the lives of 50 recipients or more. To register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor go to www.donatelifems.org.

For more information on MORA visit www.msora.org.

2017 Racing for Donation 8k Run/Walk

Posted on April 11, 2017 by bpierson

Dust off your sneakers and join Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) for our 6th Annual Racing for Donation 8K Run/Walk and Celebration of Life Picnic. Both events will be held Saturday, April 29th at MORA’s office, 4400 Lakeland Dr., in Flowood, MS. The race will begin at 7:30 a.m. Immediately following the race, the Celebration of Life Picnic will kick-off with live and amazing entertainment by Chris Gill and the Sole Shakers. This annual event will also include free food, health screenings from local vendors, a Kid’s Fun Zone, door prizes and lots of fun activities for the whole family. Don’t miss out on this great family friendly event and opportunity to celebrate the Gift of Life with our donor and recipient families.

REGISTER TODAY at www.RacingForDonation8k.com

NMMC AND MORA TEAM UP FOR TOUR DE LIFE RIDE

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Chuck Stinson

NMMC AND MORA TEAM UP FOR TOUR DE LIFE RIDE
Inaugural ride to kick-off National Donate Life Month in Mississippi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 17, 2017

PONTOTOC, MS—In honor of National Donate Life Month, North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) and Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) are holding the inaugural Tour de Life bike ride, Saturday, April 1 on the Tanglefoot Trail.

“We hope to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation in north Mississippi,” said Jeff Bonds, NMMC Performance Improvement Coordinator and chair of the event committee. “We hope local families will join us for the ride on the beautiful Tanglefoot Trail and help us spread the word about the need for organ, eye and tissue donation. This is going to be a great event for a great cause.”

“The opportunity to partner with North Mississippi Medical Center on the Tour de Life Ride is one that we are terribly excited about,” said Kevin Stump, the Chief Executive Officer of MORA. “We are confident it will be a staple in our National Donate Life Month schedule for years to come.”

National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003 with the support of then Secretary of HHS, Tommy Thompson. Celebrated in April each year, NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.

The Tour de Life ride options, which begin at 8 a.m. in Pontotoc, include:
• Metric century (62 miles)
• Half metric century (31 miles)
• 10K (6.1 miles)
• 1-mile fun ride

The ride course will provide options for bikers who prefer more hills or a flatter course. Participants will receive a short-sleeve dri-fit T-shirt, as well as refreshments at the whistle stops on the course.
Early bird registration is $25 until March 17, 2017. After March 17th, registration cost is $30. For a family of four or more, registration is $75. There will also be on-site registration the day of the ride. For more information, on or to register for the Tour de Life ride, visit www.tourdeliferide.com.

To register as an organ, eye and tissue donor go to www.donatelifems.org.

Mississippi DPS Officials Recognized for their Efforts in Saving Lives

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Nina Strother

DPS Examiners responsible for registering 98%
of Mississippi’s Registered Organ and Tissue Donors

Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) officials, Major Ken Brown and Captain James Kelly, were recognized by Donate Life Mississippi in Meridian on Wednesday for their efforts to register more Mississippians as organ, eye and tissue donors. Donate Life Mississippi is a union formed by Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA), Mid-South Transplant Foundation (MSTF) from Memphis, TN, and the Mississippi Lions Eye Bank (MLEB), to promote the need for organ, eye and tissue donation.

Captain James Kelly & Major Ken Brown were awarded Certificates of Appreciation from Donate Life America and Donate Life Mississippi for their work in promoting organ and tissue donation through the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Driver Services Department.

“Major Brown and Captain Kelly have been instrumental in increasing donor designations in Mississippi through Driver Services,” said Chuck Stinson, the Director of Community Services and Relations for MORA. “DPS is responsible for 98% of the registrations across the state and this year we have seen a 2% increase in registrations per encounter thanks to the efforts of Major Brown, Captain Kelly and their examiners,” added Stinson.

Brown, the Director of Driver Services, says he is pleased with his examiners and their impact on saving lives but that the department, in conjunction with Donate Life Mississippi can always do more. “We can educate better to show them (DPS Examiners) why, asking people to be donors is important. We can also do more public events to show how we are changing lives.”

“We’re so glad to recognize the employees of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Driver Services. All of us at Donate Life Mississippi realize that it starts with them,” said Randa Lipman, Community Outreach Manager for MSTF. “They give Mississippians an opportunity to say ‘yes’ to being an organ and tissue donor which in turns helps save lives. We honor and salute them!”

DPS examiners are required by law to ask those receiving a new Mississippi Driver’s License or renewing a current one if they wish to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. To date, the DPS has registered nearly 745,000 of the 760,000+ Mississippians registered to be organ, eye and tissue donors.

This recognition comes during National DMV Appreciation Week across the country where Donate Life state teams and Donate Life America celebrate the work of the Motor Vehicle Departments (DMVs) across the country for their partnership and commitment to asking the donation question to their customers every day.

“Our DMV partners are the people on the front lines of service who have helped register more than 130 million donors”, says David Fleming, President and CEO of Donate Life America. “Even with advances in technology, the DMV partnership remains a primary source of donor registrations. We could not have reached this milestone of registered donors and lives saved without the partnership and support of DMVs.”

Across the country, a new patient is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 22 people die each day awaiting a lifesaving transplant that never comes. One organ donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor can save or heal the lives of 50 recipients or more.

Join us for the Drive for Life Golf Tournament

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Nina Strother

The Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency will host the Drive for Life Golf Tournament on Thursday, October 20th, 2016 at Lake Caroline Golf Club in Madison, Mississippi.

In its sixth year, the Drive for Life Golf Tournament is a set up as a four man scramble with food, door prizes, a silent auctions, and on course contests. Its a fun, inexpensive way for friends of organ, eye and tissue donation to help support the educational efforts of the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency.

We hope you will join us and consider sponsoring the tournament! The sponsorship and entry fees are as follows:

Drive for Life Team Package (includes four man team and hole sponsorship): $700

Drive for Life Team (includes four man team): $600

Single Entry (includes one player entry): $175

Hole Sponsorship: $125

Beverage Cart Sponsorship: $100

For more information, to register, and/or to sponsor the event, please contact Chuck Stinson at 601.933.1000 or cstinson@msora.org

You may also print and fill out the attached Mail-in Entry Form:

Drive for Life Brochure – Event Information
Drive For Life Brochure – Mail-in Entry Form

Congratulations to the 2016 Spero Award Winners

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Nina Strother

MISSISSIPPI ORGAN RECOVERY AGENCY HONORS THOSE WHO ARE COMMITTED TO SAVING AND HEALING LIVES THROUGH ORGAN, EYE AND TISSUE DONATION

3^rd Annual Spero Awards held at Old Capitol Inn, Jackson

The Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) served as host for the 3^rd Annual Spero Awards on Thursday, July 21^st, 2016 at the Old Capitol Inn in downtown Jackson. The awards ceremony recognized hospital partners, medical professionals, corporate partners and donor ambassadors who work tirelessly in conjunction with MORA to promote organ, eye and tissue donation to ultimately save and heal lives.

A total of 15 Spero Awards were presented to individuals and organizations from areas throughout the state as well as one Special Recognition Spero Award. The word Spero (Sp?-r?) is Latin for “hope”. The title was chosen to reflect the hope that organ and tissue donation brings to those in need of a lifesaving organ or a life improving tissue transplant.

Additionally, seven medical facilities in the state received Hospital Excellence Awards in recognition of their achievement of national organ donation performance standards by attaining one or more of three set goals.

2016 Spero Award recipients

Ancillary or Healthcare Staff of the Year- Hospitals for Hope Committee, North Mississippi Medical Center

Nurse Champion- Amber Overstreet, Greenwood Leflore Hospital

Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year- Megan Butts, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Physician Champion- Dr. Carrie Morgan Henderson, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Most Supportive Hospital Leadership- Susan Russell, Singing River Health Systems

Best Medical Management- Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg

Most Supportive Tissue Hospital- Hardy Wilson Memorial Hospital, Hazlehurst

Most Supportive Organ & Tissue Hospital- Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg

Most Supportive Mortuary Services- Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home, Biloxi

Most Supportive Coroner- Butch Benedict, Forrest County

Community Faith Leader or Chaplain of the Year- Chaplain Brian Williamson, Forrest General Hospital

Volunteer of the Year- Julie Dickerson, donor mom, Nettleton

Donation Advocate- Rachel Payne, transplant recipient, Vancleave

Red Heart Award-Brookhaven Department of Public Safety Station

Corporate Partner of the Year-Brown Bottling Group, Brandon

Special Recognition-Jimmy Roberts, Retired Rankin County Coroner

Mississippi Lions Eye Bank (MLEB) also presented the Gift of Sight Award to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo for their work in helping to facilitate sight saving corneal transplants. MLEB also awarded the inaugural Partner’s in Vision Award to Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian. This award recognizes the hospital partner that has helped to facilitate eye donations that resulted in the greatest percentage of corneas being transplanted, with a minimum of ten corneas being recovered during the year.

Hospital Excellence Awards were awarded to seven hospitals that have achieved national organ donation performance standards set by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Hospitals receiving those awards were:

Anderson Regional Medical Center, Meridian

Merit Health Central, Jackson

North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo

Ocean Springs Hospital, Ocean Springs

St. Dominic Hospital, Jackson

Singing River Hospital, Pascagoula

University of Mississippi Medical Center-Jackson

Also recognized during the ceremony were 36 hospitals from across the state that have enrolled in the Mississippi Hospitals for Hope campaign, which was developed to raise awareness for the need of organ, eye and tissue donation and increase registrations. The Hospitals recognized for their participation in the state Hospitals for Hope campaign were:

Anderson Regional Medical Center

Anderson Regional Medical Center-South

Covington County Hospital

Delta Regional Medical Center

Field Memorial Community Hospital

Forrest General Hospital

H.C. Watkins Memorial Hospital

Highland Community Hospital

Jasper General Hospital

John C. Stennis Memorial Hospital

King’s Daughters Medical Center

Laird Hospital

Memorial Hospital at Gulfport

Merit Health Biloxi

Merit Health Central Mississippi

Merit Health River Region

Mississippi Baptist Medical Center

Neshoba County Hospital

North Mississippi Medical Center

North Mississippi Medical Center-Iuka

North Mississippi Medical Center-Pontotoc

North Mississippi Medical Center-West Point

North Sunflower County Medical Center

Ocean Springs Hospital

OCH Regional Medical Center

Regency Hospital of Meridian

Rush Foundation Hospital

St. Dominic Jackson Memorial Hospital

Scott Regional Hospital

Simpson General Hospital

Singing River Hospital

South Central Regional Medical Center

Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center

The Specialty Hospital of Meridian

University of Mississippi Medical Center

University of Mississippi Medical Center-Grenada

For pictures from the event, please visit:

http://bit.ly/SperoAwards2016

Donate Life ECHO

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Nina Strother

The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) Partners with Donate Life America (DLA) for 2016 Donate Life ECHO (Every Community Has Opportunity)

#DonateLifeECHO Aims to Empower the Voice of Multicultural Communities

Around the Need and Importance of Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation

The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) and Donate Life America (DLA) joined forces in 2015 to develop Donate Life ECHO, which stands for Every Community Has Opportunity. It will be celebrated July 10 – 23, 2016, as a nationwide observance designed to reach multicultural communities. The observance has two objectives: one is to focus on the power of sharing one’s personal decision to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor with members of one’s community; the second is to encourage registered donors to ask members of their personal networks and extended communities to talk about organ, eye and tissue donation and register as donors. Through the ECHO concept of reiteration and repetition—with people sharing the life-affirming message of donation within their community—more lives will be saved and healed.

Multicultural communities play a vital role in donation and transplantation. Indeed, statistics gathered by the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) confirm that the percentage of multicultural donors who save and heal lives account for 34% of all deceased organ donors. Yet, the need for enhanced advocacy and engagement persists. This is especially compounded by the fact that ethnically diverse communities are disproportionately in need of lifesaving organ transplants—especially kidneys.

Currently, nearly 58 percent of the U.S. transplant waiting list is comprised of ethnically diverse patients. Research shared by UNOS further confirms that, “successful transplantation is often enhanced by the matching of organs between members of the same ethnic and racial group.” As such, increasing educational efforts and outreach through innovative campaigns is a critical step toward increasing the number of registered donors in multicultural communities. Accordingly, Donate Life ECHO offers a simple yet powerful conduit for sparking dialogue and action.

	“This strategic initiative is about empowering individuals to echo the message of donation in diverse communities, and in so doing, increase donor registrations,” said Remonia Chapman, president of AMAT. “Donate Life ECHO also creates an opportunity for multicultural professionals, working in healthcare, to join together to promote lifesaving transplantation. Indeed, we hope to inspire future generations of clinicians, nurses, social workers, community educators and healthcare advocates to consider becoming part of this wonderful calling to save and heal lives through the gift of organ and tissue donation.” Together, AMAT and DLA will offer a Donate Life ECHO digital toolkit that will include: social media banners, graphics, talking points, statistics and other resources that can be customized for specific audiences. To learn more, please visit: www.amat1.org/programs/echo andwww.DonateLife.net/echo. To register your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor in the Donate Life Mississippi Registry, please go to www.DonateLifeMS.org. About the Association of Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) AMAT was established in 1992 to address the increasing need for organ and tissue donors in the multicultural communities while simultaneously offering support, shared expertise and professional development opportunities for its members as they save and heal lives. AMAT is a self-sustaining, self-governed organization operating solely on voluntary contributions from individuals, corporations, and other affiliated organizations. For more information, visit: www.AMAT1.org. About Donate Life America (DLA) Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and Donate Life State Teams across the United States committed to saving and healing lives through increased organ, eye and tissue donation. Donate Life America, with the help of its corporate partners, is dedicated to spreading the word about the importance of being a registered donor so that others may live. For more information, visit: www.DonateLife.net.

MORA Schedules Volunteer Trainings Across Mississippi

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Nina Strother

Agency launches a new volunteer program
to help promote need for organ and tissue donation

The Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) has scheduled three volunteer training sessions across the state to recruit and train new volunteers that want to promote the lifesaving and life healing gifts of organ, eye and tissue donation.

The dates and sites for the scheduled training sessions are as follows:

Saturday, July 23, 2016-9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MORA Office, 111 South 40^th Avenue, Hattiesburg, MS 39402.

Saturday, July 30, 2016-9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MORA Headquarters, 4400 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, MS 39232.

Saturday, August 20, 2016-9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MORA Office, Midtown Pointe, 499 Gloster Creek, Suite F1, Tupelo, MS 38801.

Saturday, September 24, 2016– 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MORA Office, Knight Not For Profit Center, 11975 Seaway Road, Suite A 180, Gulfport, Mississippi 39503.

To register for a training session or for more information, please contact Trisha Byrd at tbyrd@msora.org or (228)-896-5224, ext. 6862.

At present, approximately 1,500 Mississippians and 122,000+ Americans are in need of a lifesaving transplant. A new patient is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 22 people die each day awaiting a lifesaving transplant that never comes. One organ donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor can save or heal the lives of 50 recipients or more. To register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor go to www.itssupereasy.org.

Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) Recognizes Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency Tissue Recovery Team for Exceptional Work

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Nina Strother

Pictured Left to Right: Director of Tissue Services Brad Mathis and Tissue Recovery Coordinators Chad Wiles, Jennifer Lowther, Trey Stokes, Drew Flanagin, and Nathan DuBard.

The award winning tissue recovery team from the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) has been recognized again for excellence in their work. Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) recently announced winners of the 2015 Technical and Achievement Awards and the MORA team was one of two teams recently awarded the Golden Scalpel Award in recognition of excellence in the recovery of soft tissue. Gift of Life Michigan was also recognized. “It is a privilege to recognize our Recovery Partners and their staff for the exceptional work they do throughout the year. Their excellence in tissue donation greatly enhances our ability to honor the wishes of donors and their families and to save and enhance the lives of transplant recipients,” said Mike Real, Vice President, Procurement for MTF. MORA CEO Kevin Stump said that this award is reflective of the agency as a whole. “This is just another example of the commitment by all of the employees of the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency to honor those families who give so generously to help others.”

MORA Sponsors 53rd Medgar Evers Mississippi Homecoming

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Nina Strother

Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) is excited to be the Title Sponsor of the 53^rd Annual Medgar Evers Mississippi Homecoming celebration held Saturday, June 11^th and Sunday, June 12, 2016.

The weekend, which will honor the work and legacy of slain Civil Rights activist and Mississippi native, Medgar Wiley Evers, consists of great family friendly events on both days. Organizers describe this homecoming as an opportunity for all Mississippians to unite through the universal language of music. As title sponsor, MORA will participate in the annual parade which kicked off Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. as well as the Blues Extravaganza that night, at the Regency Hotel & Conference Center.

MORA representatives will be setting up booths at these events and will explain the importance and benefits of organ, eye and tissue donation to the large crowd in attendance. This weekend celebration is a great opportunity for MORA to reach out to our community and dispel any myths surrounding organ, eye and tissue donation by distributing factual information about our great mission.

If you are interested in having MORA be a part of your local event, contact us at 601-933-1000.