San Antonio Eye Bank and Methodist Children’s Hospital To Host Donor Family and Hospital Staff As They Decorate Floral Portrait on Wednesday, December 16

WHAT: San Antonio Eye Bank and Methodist Children’s Hospital will host an event to decorate the floral portrait of cornea donor Jaslynn Faith Hernandez that will travel to Pasadena, California and appear on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float, “New Life Rises” on January 1, 2010. Jaslynn’s mother, Hope Sepulveda, and some of the staff who cared for Jaslynn will put the final touches on the florograph, surrounded by family and friends. Jaslynn became a cornea donor on January 7, 2005. To read more about Jaslynn, visit the Rose Parade page: http://www.donatelifefloat.org/prod/components/media center/floragraphs/jhernandez.html.

Jaslynn’s florograph is one of only 76 floral portraits—and the only one from South Texas—that will appear on the Donate Life float to honor the lives of donors nationwide who in their death saved, healed and gave hope to thousands of people in need.

The floragraph is an artistic portrait created with floral materials. Photographs of the honored donors are converted into posterized images which are printed and applied to wood. Flowers or other natural materials are used to decorate the floragraph, capturing the facial details of the donors. These materials include ground coffee (eyes), strawberries (lips and cheeks) and chili powder (dark pigmented skin).

Each year in the United States more than 50,000 people have their sight restored through cornea transplantation and hundreds of thousands are helped through important research to find cures for other blinding diseases.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 16 from 10 to 11 a.m.

WHERE: Lobby of Methodist Children’s Hospital, 7700 Floyd Curl in the Medical Center. (Please park in Garage #1 off Louis Pasteur.)

VISUALS AND INTERVIEW POSSIBILITIES:

Together Hope Sepulveda, mother of five-year-old Jaslynn, Gilbert Sepulveda, Jaslynn’s brother and hospital staff will decorate the portrait and be available for interviews.

A 24x36 artist’s rendering of the “New Life Rises” float will be on display

B-roll footage of Donate Life volunteers at Phoenix Decorating Co.’s Rosemont Pavilion decorating the float and florographs will be available.

MEDIA CONTACTS: JoAnn King, 325-3294 (cell)- Shirley Wills, 822-2378 or 365-4488 (cell)

Simera Nichols, San Antonio Eye Bank, 210-614-1209 or 210-380-0560 (cell) snichols@tbionline.org

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Founded in 1965, The San Antonio Eye Bank is a community-based, not-for-profit eye and corneal tissue recovery network that has for more than 40 years helped restore sight to individuals in San Antonio and throughout South Texas. The eye bank encourages individuals to register their wish to be donors and give the gift of sight. To register please visit www.saeyebank.org

Methodist Healthcare is the largest and most preferred health care system in South Texas with 24-facilities. Eight facilities are acute care hospitals: Methodist Hospital; Methodist Heart Hospital*; Methodist Children’s Hospital*; Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital*; Northeast Methodist Hospital*; Metropolitan Methodist Hospital*; Methodist Stone Oak Hospital and Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Hospital. To learn more about how Methodist Healthcare is serving the community, visit www.SAHealth.com.

*A Methodist Hospital facility