JOHNS HOPKINS CELEBRATES BALTIMORE’S MINORITY HEROES

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Office of Corporate Communications
Media contact:  Gary Stephenson
410-955-5384; [email protected]
July 29, 2005

JOHNS HOPKINS CELEBRATES BALTIMORE’S MINORITY HEROES

African-American artists, transplant recipients, donors and healthcare workers will celebrate National Minority Donor Awareness Day though music, dance and film during an open house hosted by The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Comprehensive Transplant Center on Monday, Aug. 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Turner Concourse, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, Md.

The highlights of the open house will include:
- A choral performance by Unified Voices, a Hopkins gospel singing group and solo performance by a minority transplant recipient.
- An African dance performance by KanKouran, a local dance troupe; donors, recipients and community members will be invited to learn dance movements during the performance.
- A video panorama revealing the stories of minority transplant recipients and donors; individuals featured in this video will be available afterward to answer questions about their experiences.

The goal of the community open house is to heighten local awareness about organ donation.  African Americans represent a disproportionately high percentage of those on the local kidney waiting list.   “Patients who live just blocks away from Johns Hopkins in our Baltimore communities are severely affected by the shortage of kidney donor organs,” says event organizer J. Keith Melancon, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Kidney Transplant Program at Johns Hopkins.  “The purpose of our Donor Awareness Day open house is to celebrate those heroes among us who have selflessly donated life to others and to raise awareness about the steps community members can take to help us save thousands of lives each year.”

Specially invited guests will include local school children, patients awaiting transplantation, local community organizers, and the staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital who live in Baltimore City.

For more information, contact Gary Stephenson at 410-955-5384.  
On the web:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant