The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

Related Photos

February 8, 2010

Pitt Memorial transplant center

W. TERRY SMITH

Everybody knows that Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day, but did you know it’s also National Donor Day?

That’s the word Carolina Donor Services is trying to get out this week. There is an overwhelming need for organ donors. In North Carolina, more than 3,200 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant. Nationally, 105,352 people are on the organ waiting list. One person has the ability to save eight lives through organ donation and enhance more than 50 lives through tissue donation.

Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, part of the University Health Systems that includes Heritage Hospital in Tarboro, is the transplant center in Eastern North Carolina. Last year, Pitt harvested 109 organs and 90 were transplanted, including 38 kidney transplants from living and deceased donors.

“It’s very rewarding work,” said Carrie Simpkins, a registered nurse who has worked 17 years in the transplant program and the last 10 as the transplant coordinator at Pitt.

Simpkins and the staff take advantage of every opportunity to go into the community and inform people of the importance of organ donations. They speak to civic clubs. They are at high school football games. Last Thanksgiving they were at Colonial Mall.

“We are glad to talk to anyone,” Simpkins said.

When an injured person comes into Pitt with a heart on their driver’s license or registered information, Carolina Donor Services is notified. If they do not have a heart on their license, Carolina Donor Services is notified, and it sends someone to the hospital.

Organ donation is encouraged, but no one is ever forced to donate.

If there is a willing donor at the hospital, a team of doctors and nurses is dispatched to harvest the organs.

Organs that may be donated include heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas, intestines, tissue and bone grafts, and cornea.

“Unless you are affected, most people do not understand how important (organ donation) is,” Simpkins said. “You have the ability to give someone a second chance at life.”

A single organ donor actually can save seven to eight lives.

Transplant information is in a national database. The average wait for a transplant can be five to seven years. Pitt Memorial has 300 on its transplant list

To participate in National Donor Day, take part in one of these activities:

Register as an organ and eye donor by having a heart placed on your driver’s license at the DMV, or register as an organ, eye and tissue donor online at http://www.donatelifenc.org, or by completing a paper enrollment form and returning it to Donate Life North Carolina. Make sure your family knows your wishes.

Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs a every year.

Text Only
Local News
  • IMG_5889.JPG Pizza Bowl

    The biggest football game of the year brings the largest sale of the year for two area pizza restaurants.
    Tarboro branches of Pizza Inn and Dominos Pizza are gearing up for Super Bowl XLVI Sunday by increasing their regular employee lineup by as many as seven.
    Pizza Inn is running a special that they believe will keep them busy throughout the day. Last year they sold over 200 large pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday compared to 50 on an average Sunday.

    February 3, 2012 1 Photo

  • Edgecombe unemployment up in December

    TARBORO — Unemployment rates increased in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in December. Rates decreased in four counties and remained the same in three.
    Edgecombe, which saw a slight improvement in November, fell back to its October 2011 level (15.7%). Of the 100 counties in North Carolina, Edgecombe and Dare are tied at third highest in unemployment. 

    February 3, 2012

  • Three ECPS campuses ahead of First Lady's nutritional guidelines

    When First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new guidelines for the nutritional overhaul of school meals last week, they could have chosen three of Edgecombe County's public schools as their models.

    February 2, 2012

  • Lynn_Cale.jpg ECC Executive Named to United Way Board

    J. Lynn Cale, associate vice president of instruction at Edgecombe
    Community College, has been named to the United Way Tar River Region
    Board of Directors.
        The Tar River Region serves Edgecombe and Nash counties. Cale
    will serve a one-year term, from January to December 2012.
        He and other board members oversee 41 local health and human
    service programs funded through United Way as well as 21 Community
    Partners and various community development partnerships.
    RIGHT: J. Lynn Cale

    February 2, 2012 1 Photo

  • Pattillo Alumni Association on the move

    The Board of Directors (BOD) of W.A. Pattillo High School National Alumni
    Association, Inc. held a meeting on Jan. 21, at Pattillo School under the leadership of its President, Dr. Fred S. Wood, Jr.  All of the officers except one were in attendance, accompanied by 9 of 16 Board Members and 9 of 10 Appointed Standing Committee Chairpersons.

    February 2, 2012

  • BandSEDriverHouse.jpg Local students selected for N.C. Eastern All-District Band

    Three Edgecombe County Public Schools students have been chosen to play in the All-District Band. Lillian House, an alto saxophone player and Kaitlin Driver, a French horn player both eighth graders from South Edgecombe Middle School and West Edgecombe Middle School eighth grade flute player, Taylor Joyner earned the honor this year and will grace the stage at East Carolina University’s Wright Auditorium Feb. 3.

    February 1, 2012 2 Photos

  • Robbery prevention

    Community education on robbery prevention shares equal importance with the search of robbery suspects. Robbery prevention may seem unachievable, but we can not continue to ignore the problem of robbery in our community. As local citizens, we should create ways in which everyone can benefit from the knowledge of robbery prevention.

    February 1, 2012

  • GHW 01-28-1221.JPG George Henry White: tribute to a great American

      Why isn’t George Henry White a household name?  If Vincent Spalding has anything to do with it, that will soon change.
         Long ignored in African American history books and recognitions, George Henry White of North Carolina was elected to Congress in 1896, and re-elected in 1898, becoming the last African American elected to Congress after Reconstruction, and the first to serve in the 20th century.

    January 31, 2012 1 Photo

  • Project SKILL Updates

    The National Science Foundation grant proposal for Project SKILL (Supporting Knowledge with Innovative Life-long Learning) is currently in progress.
    This full-scale developing project, if approved, will prepare Edgecombe County's underrepresented students (grade levels 8-12) for college and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. An anticipated approval date is scheduled for August of this year.

    January 31, 2012

  • KevinWilson.jpg Local Demand Drives Weekend Courses in Historic Preservation

    Interested in turning an old tobacco barn into a "man cave"? You can learn how this spring at Edgecombe Community College.
    In response to local demand, the college has developed several new courses in the historic preservation trades program, including "Preservation of Farm Structures" on March 17-18 and March 24-25.

    January 27, 2012 1 Photo