Charleston, SC – January 25, 2017: LifePoint is now We Are Sharing Hope SC, effective January 25, 2017. Why? The short answer is because LifePoint Health has moved into South Carolina and we agreed it might be confusing to serve our clients with the same name. But there’s more to it than that. This presented a unique opportunity to explore more fully who we are as an organization and why changing our name could enable us to more aptly describe what we do in serving our donor families, recipients and our community as a whole.

After many months and hundreds of hours of deliberation, we decided We Are Sharing Hope SC resonated with us as an organization and as human beings. At the core, our calling is sharing hope with the families that depend on us, so there’s really no better name to describe us.

Sharing Hope for us includes:

• Recovering organs and tissues for transplantation to save, heal and enhance lives
• Determining suitability of organs and tissues for transplantation to ensure the safety of potential recipients
• Coordinating with and educating our professional partners about the donation process
• Offering donor family support counseling during the donation process
• Providing care and support for our donor families after donation
• Supporting the recovery and use of all non-transplantable organs and tissues for research and education

Changing our name to We Are Sharing Hope SC in no way changes who we are and what we are doing as an organization. We are still helping donor families and recipients through an incredibly difficult time in their lives with compassion, love and, most of all, hope.

In South Carolina, 127 people became organ donors at their deaths during 2016 and resulted in 458 organs transplanted in South Carolina and across the nation. This is the highest number of donors and transplanted organs in the past five years. Nationally, over 33,000 people began new lives last year thanks to organ transplants. That is a record high for the 4th consecutive year.

While we are seeing an increase in the number of organ donors, it is important to remember that the number of people waiting on a transplant still remains extremely large and more donors are needed to help save lives. In South Carolina, over 1,000 people are waiting on a lifesaving organ transplant and nationally that number grows to over 118,000 people.

There were also 205 tissue donors during 2016 which have improved the lives of South Carolinians and people across the country. Over one million tissue transplants were performed in the United States during 2016.

Since our inception in 1984, initially named South Carolina Organ Procurement Organization (SCOPA), our organization has facilitated and honored the gifts of nearly 3,000 organ donors which resulted in almost 10,000 organs being transplanted.

SCOPA became LifePoint on June 15, 2001 and in January 2003, LifePoint merged with South Carolina Lions Eye Bank. Two years later, in January 2005, the American Red Cross Southeastern Tissue Services ceased recovering tissue so LifePoint started recovering tissue too. In June 2015, LifePoint transferred its ocular department to Miracles in Sight (MIS) headquartered in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Now as of January 25, 2017 We Are Sharing Hope.

We believe by changing our name we can now realize even more of the aspirations we have as an organization to make donation an everyday conversation. We know the difference a single donation can make, both to the donor’s family and to the recipient. It is a very delicate balance on either end but we believe our work together can share hope with all of those who may be impacted by the gift of donation.

If you have questions about organ and tissue donation, our organization or would like to set up an interview, please contact Mark Johnson, Media Relations Coordinator We Are Sharing Hope SC at 843-763-7755.