UnityPoint Health Kicks Off Donate Life Month As Campaign Aims To Register 10,000 Donors With 179 Patients Waiting

Donate Life Month Kicks Off As Iowa Marks Donor Need, Transplants, And 10K Registration Drive

USA: Donate Life Month opened in Des Moines with UnityPoint Health leaders, organ recipients and donor families raising the Donate Life flag outside Iowa Methodist Medical Center to call attention to the ongoing need for donors. The event centered transplantation as a life-saving public health priority and highlighted community efforts to increase registrations statewide.

Statewide figures presented by organizers underscored the scale of demand: 376 organs were transplanted last year in Iowa, alongside 981 donations and 1,300 tissue donations. At Iowa Methodist Transplant Center, 179 people currently remain on the waitlist, a number advocates say illustrates how many lives depend on timely donor registration and transplantation infrastructure.

A local transplant recipient who received a transplant five years ago is now honoring the person who saved his life by launching a transplant support group at Lutheran Church of Hope and leading a “Fund a 10K” campaign. The effort seeks to sign up 10,000 Iowans as organ, eye and tissue donors; organizers emphasize the initiative is about registering donors rather than racing, and they noted the final 10K registration push begins at midnight.

UnityPoint Health and community partners urged residents to consider registering as donors and to support transplant recipients and donor families through local groups and hospital programs. Organizers say more information is available through UnityPoint Health and local transplant support networks for those who want to learn how to help.

Video originally published on 2026-03-31 17:19:46