Tower Health leaders Dr. Charles F. Barbera and Dr. Richard McLaughlin said on Apr. 14 that organ donation is a critical issue affecting their staff, patients, and the wider community.
The need for organ donors remains urgent as more than 100,000 people across the country are waiting for transplants, with many losing their lives each day due to the lack of available organs. Locally, about 4,500 children and adults in the region are awaiting life-saving transplants.
Amanda Kuzo, an occupational therapist at Tower Health, has been waiting for a kidney transplant for over a year and will soon begin nightly dialysis despite being asymptomatic five years after her diagnosis. Her story highlights how organ donation is not just a statistic but impacts real people within hospital communities.
Reading Hospital, Phoenixville Hospital, and Pottstown Hospital have joined The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Donate Life Challenge in partnership with Gift of Life Donor Program to raise awareness about this issue. In 2025 alone, Gift of Life coordinated nearly 2,000 organ transplants and more than 2,400 cornea donations nationwide.
“Anyone, regardless of age, race or medical history can register to be a donor,” Barbera and McLaughlin said in their joint statement. They noted that racial and ethnic minorities make up roughly 60 percent of those on the national transplant list due to higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
The impact one person can have was illustrated by Wendy Lucas from Tower Health’s Information Technology Department who became a living kidney donor last November. “One person’s decision can save a life,” Barbera and McLaughlin said.
They encourage everyone to consider registering as an organ donor and discussing their wishes with loved ones: “Your decision could one day save someone’s life. By working together we can all bring hope to those who are waiting.”
