6ABC and FOX29 Highlight Temple Health Celebrating 40th Anniversary of Philadelphia’s First Heart Transplant during National Donate Life Month Event with Gift of Life

6ABC and FOX29 were on site as Temple Health celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first heart transplant, the first in Philadelphia, during an event with Gift of Life on April 25th. The event included a flag-raising to honor the selfless generosity and courage of organ donors and their families and increase awareness about the importance of organ donation and registration, as well as personal stories of the life-saving power of donation from heart transplant recipient Earl Jones and kidney transplant recipient Julian Harmon. Julian is a Perioperative Services Assistant at Temple University Hospital who assists doctors, nurses and patients in the operating room where organ transplants are performed and who lived with kidney disease for nearly a decade before receiving a transplant in one of the ORs where he works. Abhinav Rastogi, MBA, MIS, Executive Vice President of Temple University Health System and President & CEO of TUH; Kenneth Chavin, MD, MBA, PhD, FACE, Director of the Abdominal Organ Transplant Program at TUH; and Eman A. Hamad, MD, MHA, FACC, FHFSA, FAHA, Director of the Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Program at TUH, delivered remarks.