MAHONING TOWNSHIP -- There are many different kinds of gifts you can give on Valentine's Day, but perhaps the most important one is not found inside a store.
It's the gift of life and in addition to February 14 being Valentine's Day, it's also "National Donor Day." This special day recognizes organ donors and there are many events to mark the day.
While there were not any organ donation events held in Montour County, Newswatch 16 stopped by Geisinger Medical Center and talked with the transplant team. At Geisinger, they do kidney and liver transplants.
"Around 40 to 50 kidney transplants a year and we've done maybe 12 to 15 liver transplants a year," said Dr. Anil Kotru.
"We also do advanced liver surgery as well and advanced kidney dialysis procedures," said Dr. Michael Marvin
Dr. Marvin is the program director for the transplant team at Geisinger Medical Center. He stressed the importance of signing up to be an organ donor.
"We can't do transplants if we don't have organs that are donated. We need to have access to those life-saving organs in order to do what we do," added Dr. Marvin.
The doctors say one organ donor can save up to eight lives.
"Heart, two lungs, liver, two kidneys, pancreas and potentially even a small bowel," said Dr. Christine Du.
The doctors tell Newswatch 16 there was a recent increase in donors because of the heroin epidemic.
"Those patients often become donors, which takes something horrible and makes something good out of it. But it has been an increase we've noticed all around the country," said Dr. Marvin.