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Sinai Hospital of Baltimore has received the U.S. Health and Human Services Medal of Honor Award for the hospital's commitment to saving lives through organ donation.

The Medal of Honor is presented to hospitals and organ procurement organizations nationwide who achieve lifesaving organ donation rates of 75 percent or more for a sustained 12-month period. The Medal of Honor Award is one element of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, a national initiative to increase the number of lives saved through transplantation.

"This award is a testament to our dedicated staff and physicians who work to encourage organ donation, and to the families who generously choose to give the gift of life," said Neil Meltzer, president and COO of Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. "We are very proud to receive this honor."

The Living Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit organization responsible for managing organ donation activities in the greater Baltimore area, partners with Sinai Hospital to provide the bridge between the loss of life and the gift of life. In 2006, Sinai Hospital had 14 people generously extend the gift of life to more than 45 people in the mid-Atlantic region waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

Marylanders can document their wishes to be an organ and tissue donor by registering online at www.thellf.org or checking the box on their driver's license application or renewal form. Individuals are also encouraged to talk with their loved ones about their wishes. Below are facts about organ donation:

• More than 93,000 people in the United States are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, 2,500 of those people are from Maryland.
• Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list; sadly, an average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
• On average, about 70 people in the United States receive an organ transplant each day.
• Organ, tissue and eye transplants save or improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is a member of LifeBridge Health, a regional health organization, which includes Northwest Hospital Center, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, Jewish Convalescent & Nursing Home, and related subsidiaries and affiliates.

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