Health care executives dance for a cause

Health care professionals from each of Wisconsin’s  transplant and organ procurement organizations will compete in the National Kidney Foundation’s Spotlight on Life Gala dance competition on Saturday, Jan. 29 at the Intercontinental Hotel, 139 East Kilbourn Ave.
Modeled afterDancing with the Stars, health care executives will compete to support organ donation and promote awareness of Wisconsin’s new online donor registry www.yesiwillwisconsin.com. 
“This event was created to shine the spotlight on the 1,700 men, women and children in Wisconsin who are still waiting for a life-saving transplant, and to draw attention to the critical need to increase organ, tissue and eye donation,” said Joanne MacInnes, event-co-chair and chair of the NKFW board of directors.  “We are thrilled that so many health care executives and professionals are supporting this cause by dancing, and believe it highlights the critical importance of organ donation.”
Executives competing in the competition include, Dr. Ajay Sahajpal, multiorgan transplant, hepatobiliary and GI surgical oncology at Aurora Health Care; Cathy Buck, executive vice president of operations at Froedtert Hospital; Cinthia Christensen, executive vice president at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin; Dr. Anthony D’Alessandro, interim chair, division of Transplantation at UW Hospital and Clinics and medical director at UW Health Organ Procurement Organization; Donna Katen-Bahensky, president and chief executive officer of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics; Colleen McCarthy, director of organ and tissue donation at Blood Center of Wisconsin; and Dr. John Raymond, president and chief executive officer at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
 “I am trying to help out a great cause because I work with many patients everyday that live with kidney disease and need transplants,” said Dr. Sahajpal. “I dance for them. I’m not nervous because I don’t mind embarrassing myself for a good cause and for my patients.”
Each health care executive will be paired with a dance professional from Fred Astaire Dance Studios. Awards will be given to the individual dancers who place first, second and third in the dance competition determined by a panel of celebrity judges. A second, Spotlight on Life Award trophy will be awarded to the Institution that gathers the most votes in its name. Voting can be done online for $1 through tonight and at the event itself. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. and be emceed by WISN 12 news anchor Kathy Mykleby. Tickets for the Spotlight on Life benefit event are still available.  To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit www.spotlightonlife.org or call 1-800-543-6393, ext. 10.