Farmingville, NY - Recently, Councilwoman Jane Bonner (left) hosted a group discussion in the Brookhaven Town Hall TV studio about the Stony Brook Medicine Living Organ Donor Program. The Councilwoman, who donated a kidney to a childhood friend in April 2016, is a leading advocate of living organ donations and helps to raise awareness of the program. Her guests included (left to right) Frank Darras, Medical Director for the Stony Brook Medicine Kidney Transplant Program, kidney transplant surgeon and living donor kidney surgeon; Dawn Francisquini Administrative Director of the Kidney Transplant Program and Steve Knapik, Living Donor Coordinator. Brookhaven Town Chief of Staff Emily Pines (right), a kidney donor herself, also participated in the discussion. The TV program is currently available for viewing on the Town website or on Brookhaven Cablevision Channel 18. The broadcast schedule is posted on the Town website.
Councilwoman Bonner said, “There is a real need for people to make the commitment to be a living organ donor and Stony Brook Medicine can help anyone get started. As a kidney donor myself, I can say that it is a wonderful feeling to know that I was able to help save a life.”
The Kidney Transplantation Services team at Stony Brook Medicine prides itself on one goal: paving the smoothest path possible for the recipients, donors, and loved ones involved in a kidney transplant. The program was started in 1979, making it the oldest and most active program on Long Island. To date, the program has performed 1,580 kidney transplants with a one-year graft survival success rate that stands at over 94%. It is ranked in the top 20% of programs nationally by patient volume.