The Gift of Hope Organ Summit ends with a call to action that could affect everyone in Illinois.
Each year the number of people on the waiting list for an organ donation is rapidly growing
Meanwhile the number of donors and transplants grows slowly.
In 2016 Illinois hospitals performed more than 1,200 organ transplants.
Now the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network wants to boost that number to 2,000 a year by 2020.
“We think we can grow living donations by 100 or so organs transplanted. We have a four year target to get 2000 organs transplanted and I think it’s very doable,” Kevin CmuntCEO, President of Gift of Hope said.