Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Public dialogue on organ & tissue donation & transplantation in Canada

A public meeting (view agenda) will be held this coming weekend in Toronto to give Canadians a chance to have their say and give input to the design of a new system for Organ and Tissue Donation in Canada Saturday, May 29th, 8am to 4pm (Four Points by Sheraton – 6257 Airport Road, Mississauga, ON).

Advance registration (below) is required to accommodate the needs of the participants and adequately prepare and plan for food and refreshment.

Canadian Blood Services has received a new mandate from the Federal and Provincial governments to look at designing a new system for improving Organ and Tissue donation.

Some of the following information is taken from a Background report prepared last year for Canadian parliamentary committees. (Reading this pre-meeting will bring you up to speed on the current situation in Canada).

This is a great opportunity to have your voice heard on this very important topic for organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Canada. Anywhere from 140 to 250 Canadians die each year while waiting for an organ transplant. Canada’s cadaveric donation rate is reportedly lower than that of most of the countries to which it is compared. The cadaveric donor rate in Canada has declined slightly over the past 10 years from approximately 15 to 13 donors per million population (PMP).

International comparisons of organ donor rates usually include Spain and the United States, whose donor rates are reportedly 33.4 and 21.4 PMP respectively. Underlying this unfortunate statistic is the fact that Canada has one of the lowest rates of organ donation in the industrialized world. And yet studies show about 50% of Canadians are unaware of what their loved ones wanted regarding organ and tissue donations.

Please register for the event
http://www.blood.ca/speakup

You can also register by calling:
Debbie White
OTDT-PA Coordinator
Canadian Blood Services
1800 Alta Vista Drive
Ottawa, ON K1G 4J5
e-mail: debbie.white@blood.ca
Telephone: (613) 739-2404
Fax: (613) 739-2400

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

2 comments:

His wife said...

Hopefully, more education will prove to save lives. My husband died while awaiting a kidney transplant, two years ago. My blog pretty much explains it all. I won't add it here without permission. I commend your efforts in education and awareness of the problems in the field of organ and tissue donation, both live and cadaveric. I live in the US, and while our rates are higher, my husband needed a familial transplant.

Merv Sheppard said...

I'm very sorry to learn of your husband's passing. Please feel free to post your blog's URL here for myself and others to read. Merv.