For Hopkins’ transplant recipients, there is an especially meaningful site in the hospital near the building’s Wolfe Street entrance.
In the hallway to the right of the entrance is a large memorial plaque honoring families of organ and tissue donors. The 4.5 x 10 foot wall, featuring a green and black floral design, has 400 spaces to engrave names of organ and tissue donors at Johns Hopkins after death.
As with the Vietnam War memorial wall in Washington, D.C., families are able to touch the names of their loved ones. At its dedication in December 2001, 43 names of individuals who donated since 1996 had been engraved on the memorial.
“We would be honored to include the names of other donors from those who died at The Johns Hopkins Hospital . . . and will continue to contact other donor families for permission,” said the Rev. Rosemary Lillis, Hopkins’ program coordinator for organ and tissue donation, at the dedication. There is no cost to families to have a name listed or to donate organs and tissues.
Thomas and Dottie Watts, parents of Robert Vernon Watts, knew their son wanted to be an organ donor, but when he died in 1999 he did not meet the criteria. The couple was able to donate Robert’s tissues but also wished to provide a second enduring gift.
They approached the Hopkins Organ Donor Council about creating a permanent memorial to honor all organ and tissue donors. The transplant center, the Surgery department, and the Maryland Transplant Resource Center commissioned the artwork.
The memorial is a permanent reminder to all who use the busy corridor that organ and tissue donation is an honored decision that saves the life of another person. And it is a tribute to those donors and their families who honored the importance of such a decision.
