New York, NY –December 13, 2003 – New York State's Gift of Life Medal of Honor was unveiled today during the New York Organ Donor Network's annual Donor Family Luncheon to honor donors and their families. Despite a powerful weekend winter snowstorm, more than 200 people attended the emotional event.

The newly minted medals were handed out by Wayne Osten , director of health systems management at the New York State Department of Health, to donor families who had lost their loved ones in 2002.

The New York State Gift of Life Medal of Honor program recognizes the selfless life-saving contributions of deceased and living organ donors; tissue donors; as well as bone marrow donors and peripheral blood stem cell donors. Due to the support of several state legislators, including Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblymen Sam Hoyt and James Conte , Governor George Pataki signed legislation in 2002 establishing the program.

The medal features a sugar maple tree, the official tree of New York State . It comes in a box with two matching lapel pins that can be worn by donors or donor family members. The medal's design allows family members to have the medal affixed to the deceased donor's head stone as a means of recognizing the life-saving decision. It can be used by living donors as a commemorative of a truly altruistic act.

According to the legislation, the medals will be distributed by local organ procurement organizations, tissue and eye banks, as well as transplant centers, to donors or families whose donation occurred in 2002 and subsequent years.

The New York Organ Donor Network plans to work closely with other transplant partners in the New York metropolitan area to continue distributing the medals. A Medal of Honor ceremony at a major venue is being considered for November 2004.

For more information, contact Martin Woolf , 212-870-3960 or mwoolf@nyodn.org