Saturn of Southwest Oregon Celebrates the Tenth Anniversary of Saturn National Donor Day

MEDFORD, Ore., Feb. 5, 2007 -- Saturn of Southwest Oregon is gearing up for the Tenth Annual Saturn National Donor Day by joining the American Red Cross in a nationwide effort to save lives through blood donation. Saturn of Southwest Oregon will host a blood drive on February 14, 2007 from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 400 N. Riverside Avenue.

"Saturn National Donor Day is one of the largest annual lifesaving donation drives in the United States. We can't express how privileged we feel to be a part of this good-will effort for not only the Medford community, but for the entire nation," said Mark Pagan, General Manager of Saturn of Southwest Oregon. "Since 1998, Saturn of Southwest Oregon has been involved in nine blood drives. Nationwide, Saturn has collected over 188,000 units of blood and will cross the 200,000 mark this year."

  There are three key components to the Saturn National Donor Day:

  * Blood donation -- Each day blood transfusions save approximately
    10,000 Americans and even though sixty percent of Americans are
    eligible to donate blood, only five percent do so. Because
    supplies are often critically low during the winter months,
    Saturn National Donor Day occurs in February.
  * Marrow donation enrollment -- Saturn drives have added nearly 12,000
    potential marrow donors to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
    Registry.  To date, dozens of potentially lifesaving marrow matches
    have occurred as a direct result of the Saturn National Donor Day.
    Each year approximately 20,000 patients fighting leukemia and other
    diseases will turn to the NMDP Registry seeking a match from an
    anonymous donor.
  * Organ and tissue donation enrollment -- More than 94,000 patients are
    on the Transplant Waiting List and an average of 18 die every day
    due to the shortage of donors.

Saturn National Donor Day's national spokesperson is liver transplant recipient and world-class Alpine snowboarder, Chris Klug. Although, Klug received his lifesaving transplant in 2000, he brought home a Bronze Medal for the USA at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. His remarkable story is testimony to the fact that donation not only saves lives, but can enable a great quality of life for those fortunate enough to receive a second chance through the "gift of life."

"My life was saved thanks to the incredible generosity of a donor family," says Klug. "What better way to celebrate the spirit of the Valentine's Day season than to give the gift of life?"

Sixteen national nonprofit partners as well as hundreds of local blood banks and community health organizations help to make Saturn National Donor Day possible. The national nonprofit partners include American Association of Blood Banks, American Liver Foundation, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, America's Blood Centers, Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, Children's Organ Transplant Association, Donate Life America, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, The Marrow Foundation, National Kidney Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program, National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program, United Network for Organ Sharing and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

For more information about Saturn National Donor Day, please visit: http://saturnuaw.com/filecabinet/Satfile/national.htm