Record number of hospitals in Ontario championing organ and tissue donation

TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2013

Digital Journal

Nearly 30% more hospitals formally supporting organ and tissue donation than a year ago

TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2013 /CNW/ - Fifty hospitals are working with Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) to promote and create a positive culture of organ and tissue donation in Ontario. That is an increase of nearly 30 per cent from a year ago.  By the end of 2013 there will be 55 hospitals and by next year, all 60 hospitals in Ontario with capacity to facilitate organ donation, will notify TGLN when a patient has died or is at high risk for imminent death to ensure that all potential opportunities for donation are identified.

Hospitals are also helping to promote organ and tissue donor registration in their communities and actively encouraging their staff to register consent for organ and tissue donation through registration drives. Since April 2012, 24 hospitals have run registration drives with the most successful to date being the tri-hospital drive done by University Health Network, Hospital for Sick Children and St. Michael's Hospital, which achieved almost 3,600 visits to Ontario's online donor registry.

"St. Michael's is proud to be a leader in organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Ontario," says Dr. Robert Howard, St. Michael's Hospital President and CEO. "The work we do in our hospital to facilitate organ and tissue donation at end of life and to encourage staff to register results in more lives being saved and enhanced in Ontario.

New data available today at www.BeADonor.ca shows that as of September 30, 2013, 24 per cent or 2.78 million Ontarians have registered their consent to save lives through organ and tissue donation, an increase of 57,806 registrations since June 30, 2013.

"Support for organ and tissue donation continues to grow in every part of our province. This is in large part because of the work of our hospital partners in their communities," says Ronnie Gavsie, TGLN President and CEO. "Our goal is to ensure that at end of life, all opportunities for organ and tissue donation are identified and pursued with family consent to save and enhance as many lives as possible."

Quick Facts:

• As of September 30, 2013, there were 1,483 people in Ontario waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.
• One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 more through the gift of tissue.
• Top five communities with the most improved registration rate, since June 30 to September 30, 2013 include: Hawkesbury, Essex, East/Central Prescott and Russell, Renfrew, and Cornwall.
• Ontario has made it very simple to register consent for organ and tissue donation: online at www.BeADonor.ca, in person at a ServiceOntario centre or by mail, download a copy of the consent form at www.giftoflife.on.ca.

Trillium Gift of Life Network is a not-for-profit agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for planning, promoting, coordinating and supporting organ and tissue donation for transplantation across Ontario and improving the system so that more lives can be saved.

SOURCE Trillium Gift of Life Network

“You Have the Power to Donate Life – Sign-up today! Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Donor Registration Links 

ONTARIO, CANADA SEES RECORD NUMBER OF TRANSPLANTS IN 2012

In 2012, 95 people on the transplant wait list died. 196 families, in the absence of registered consent, declined to donate their loved ones’ organs. Had their family member been registered, an estimated 370 additional lifesaving transplants could have been performed.

A record-breaking 1,053 lifesaving organ transplants were performed in Ontario in 2012, an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year and the third year in a row the province has reported growth in the number of transplants performed. Over 253 deceased organ donors and their families gave the gift of life in 2012, an increase of 15 per cent over the previous year. Deceased Ontario donors contributed to 385 kidney transplants, 189 liver transplants, 104 lung transplants, 74 heart transplants, 23 kidney pancreas transplants, 20 pancreas transplants and one small bowel transplant.

Despite the increase in donors, according to Trillium Gift of Life Network, lives are still being lost because only 22 per cent of Ontarians have registered their consent to organ and tissue donation. What shocked me was the number of families who refused their consent to donate their loved one's organs for transplant. When promoting organ donation awareness we have to continue to encourage donors to talk to their families about their wishes and to emphasize the fact that one donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through the gift of tissue. Click here for list of organs and tissues that can be donated.

If I ever have the honor of meeting my donor family I would be sure to tell them that their loved one did not die in vain because they were still living within me and that our lives have merged and continue to lead a happy and rich life.,

Despite the increase in donors, lives are still being lost because only 22 per cent of Ontarians have registered their consent to organ and tissue donation.

In 2012, 95 people on the transplant wait list died. 196 families, in the absence of registered consent, declined to donate their loved ones’ organs. Had their family member been registered, an estimated 370 additional lifesaving transplants could have been performed.

“You Have the Power to Donate Life – Sign-up today! Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Donor Registration Links  

Ontario residents can now become an organ donor online

Congratulations to the Province of Ontario, Canada and Trillium Gift of Life Network for implementing an online organ and tissue donor registry.

Ontario residents can now register their consent to be an organ and tissue donor online at beadonor.ca.

Residents need to register even if they have signed a donor card. A signed donor card is not recorded in the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s database and may not be available when needed. Organ and tissue donor registration is the only secure and guaranteed way to make your decision to save lives known.

As of today in Ontario there are 1541 patients on the waiting list for a life saving transplant and only 400 transplants have taken place this year. Every 3 days someone dies in Ontario before an organ becomes available for their life-saving transplant.

At beadonor.ca anyone 16 years of age or older can register to be a donor in just a few minutes. Ontarians are asked to please visit this site and share the link with their families, friends and other contacts. By doing this they can help to achieve a huge increase in the rate of of organ donation and save many more lives in the process. 

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register online to be a donor in Ontario at beadonor.ca
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at organdonor.gov (Go to top right to select your state)

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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

2009 the year of the decade for organ donation in Ontario

Last year, nearly 700 lives were saved in Ontario, Canada because of a record number of organ donations thanks to an eight-year legacy of hard work by Trillium Gift of Life Network. I've been working with Trillium Gift of Life as a volunteer since my lung transplant in 2002 and it's wonderful to see progress in our efforts to increase organ and tissue donation. Once on-line registration is implemented in Ontario there will be a huge increase in organ donors registering but until that time Ontario can be proud of the success it's had so far.

"2009 was a record-breaking year," says Frank Markel, President and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN). "It was the culmination of sound planning, many years of solid progress through hard work, and the generous support of the provincial government."

In the two short years since the Organ Donation Strategy was announced by the Ontario government TGLN has implemented many of the strategy's recommendations, including improvements to donor registration, launch of multi-faith and youth outreach campaigns, and implementation of clinical best practices to drive donation performance and changes to consent to tissue donation. And that unified effort has paid off in spades.

"Not only did Ontario achieve a record 218 organ donations, but we have decreased the number of deaths of people on the organ transplant wait list by nearly 24 per cent," says Markel.

"The gifts given by those 218 generous deceased organ donors and their families allowed TGLN to coordinate a total of 691 life-saving organ transplants over the course of the year, a 17 per cent increase over 2008," he adds.

“To the people who are on waiting lists: Have hope,” he said. “Historically, the Greater Toronto Area has not been the strongest supporter of organ donations but, in 2009, the hospitals in the GTA reversed that trend.”

The number of tissue donations over the past 12 months was unprecedented, with 1,299 tissue donors in 2009, a rise of 24 per cent from the previous year. Tissue donors provided bone grafts, heart valves, and skin for life-enhancing transplants, as well as 1,616 eyes for transplants to restore vision. Just one tissue donor can help up to 75 people through tissue donation.

"The work of the Trillium Gift of Life Network and everyone involved in organ and tissue donation in Ontario is making unbelievable differences in the lives of Ontarians and their families," says Deb Matthews, Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. "Thank you all for your hard work and continued dedication to such an important cause."

She encouraged everyone to reach into their wallets and pull out their Ontario health cards.

“You should all have on your health card that you’re a donor,” she said. “Have a party and get people to sign up. I’m absolutely optimistic and there truly is no greater gift than the gift of life.

“The 84 who died and 1,600 waiting is just too many,” Matthews said.

Markel also credits TGLN's multiple partners for the success of 2009. "The remarkable increase in the number of organ and tissue donations for transplant is only possible through dedicated cooperation from tissue banks and our healthcare partners, both at the 21 major donation hospitals and the transplant centres within the province," he says.

"Between 1999 and 2008, the average annual increase in deceased donors in Ontario nearly doubled that in the rest of the country," states Dr. John Gill, President of the Canadian Organ Replacement Register Board of Directors. "The 2009 numbers further demonstrate what can be achieved in Canada, and should be a model to drive improvement in deceased organ donation nationally."

"Success in organ and tissue donation takes an incredible team effort, and at Sunnybrook we are fortunate to have staff, physicians and leaders throughout the organization who are committed to this life-saving cause," says Dr. Barry McLellan, President and CEO, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, which lead hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area in performance improvements. "As well as our own staff, we are thankful for the partnership we have with the Trillium Gift of Life Network. Our continued collaboration and dedication to this program will save and improve countless lives across Ontario."

"I am thankful for the generosity of our donor families at a time of great distress and grateful for the support, focus and compassion of our partners," says Rabbi Reuven Bulka, of Ottawa, the Board Chair of TGLN. "And the Government of Ontario has been a tremendous ally. The astonishing success we've built to in the last decade could not have been possible without all of this assistance."

Despite the banner year and positive steps forward, more still needs to be done. Today, approximately 1,600 people in Ontario are waiting for a life-saving transplant. More lives could be saved if more people registered their decision to donate.

As of June 30, 2009, 17 per cent of eligible Ontarians over the age of 16 had registered their donation consent decision, a five per cent increase since November 30, 2008.

You can register your consent to donate your organs and tissue by visiting your local ServiceOntario Health Card Services - OHIP office or outreach centre where you renew your health card. You can also register by downloading and filling out a Gift of Life Consent Form from http://www.giftoflife.on.ca and mailing it to the address on the form.

Even if you've already signed your donor card, please also register your decision so that this information is accessible at the time of your death and talk to your family about your decision.

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network, please visit http://www.giftoflife.on.ca. You can also call 416-363-4001 or toll free 1-800-263-2833.

Trillium Gift of Life Network is a not-for-profit agency of the Government of Ontario and is responsible for planning, promoting, coordinating and supporting organ and tissue donation across Ontario and improving the system so that more lives can be saved.

“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. One tissue donor can help up 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.

New round-the-clock access to organ donor database benefiting the desperately ill

Canadian Press

TORONTO — Unprecedented access to a database of Ontario organ donors is dramatically changing the way hospitals are getting life-saving donations to desperately ill people, says the head of the province's organ and tissue donation agency.

While donation consent has been captured through the province's health insurance program - OHIP - since 1995, it wasn't until November that the Trillium Gift of Life Network gained real-time access to that valuable information.

"Before, even though people registered their wishes with OHIP, the only way we would know about it is if someone in the hospital or a family member came upon the (health) card while going through the person's wallet," said CEO and president Frank Markel.

"Now, when someone goes into hospital and they're a potential donor, we get their OHIP number from the hospital staff. We then call OHIP and they tell us whether the person has registered their wishes to be a donor or not."

The new process, made possible through a 24-hour phone line that went live in mid-November and operates seven days a week, has already made an impact.

Although health cards for people who registered to be an organ donor carry the word donor on the back, locating the cards, especially in an emergency situation, often proved difficult.

"We really weren't getting many situations where we could identify the donor information from a card in a wallet," Markel said.

While families are still approached about the possibility of donating a loved one's organs, being able to present a paper copy of that person's consent form by accessing the database has gone a long way in informing their decision.

"We had a case recently where family members were divided about whether to agree to donation or not," Markel said.

"When we checked the file the person was registered as a donor, and when we were able to present that information to the family it helped convince them to let us proceed with donation."

It's a welcome change in a province where the current waiting list for organs sits at nearly 1,700 people - a figure that includes both adults and children.


That overwhelming need also saw changes made in December to the way the province asks residents if they want to become donors.

It's called affirmative registration, and the hope is that it will see more people agree to be donors.

More than 900,000 Ontario residents renew their health cards each year. Research indicates that jurisdictions with a yes-only registry, and that no longer ask for no or undecided responses, have experienced an increase in donor registrations, according to the Health Ministry's website.

Markel noted that in one service area in the western U.S. that covers all of Utah and parts of Idaho and Wyoming, a yes-only registry has seen some 70 per cent of the population agree to donate.

In Nova Scotia, where affirmative consent has been the standing policy, 44.3 per cent of eligible residents are on the list.

The current consent rate in Ontario is a paltry 12.5 per cent, or approximately 1.75 million people.

Kathy Gough knows just how life-altering organ donation can be.
The mother from Powassan, Ont., has lost both of her daughters to illnesses following double-lung transplants. The girls, Emily and Jessica, both suffered from cystic fibrosis.

She said donation gave her daughters an opportunity to come home and finish living their lives. In the case of Jessica, whose death came just two weeks ago at age 19, that meant living on her own for a short time and getting a job.

Gough said that although any increase in prospective donors is a good thing, she'd prefer the province adopt a presumed-consent system for organ donation - a method employed in 20 European countries and Singapore.

That system sees people who don't want to become donors opt out by ensuring their name is placed on a national registry.

"It doesn't matter what laws are put in, there's always a resistance to it anyways, but as time goes on people realize, 'oh, that was a good thing,' " said Gough, who thinks it could work in Ontario if the public was better educated.

"The first step is to get the proper educational literature out there. (Organ donation) needs to be more in the public because until they do that, it's not going to be on people's minds."

A 2007 report from the Citizens Panel on Increasing Organ Donations strongly suggested the province avoid a presumed-consent system, saying neither the public, nor doctors, were comfortable with the idea.

NDP legislature member Peter Kormos, who has been leading the fight for presumed consent in the province for years, disagrees with that assessment.

"At first blush, people go 'oh my,' but the more it gets discussed - and it has been discussed reasonably vigorously - people start to reflect and start to change their minds."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
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. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Happy Thanksgiving from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Reminding Ontarians to register their organ and tissue donation wishes and talk to their family

This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and I, like thousands of others, have much to be thankful for. Being given a second chance at life has been a transforming experience for me and I will be forever grateful and thankful to my donor and donor family, the surgeons and staff at Toronto General Hospital and to Trillium Gift of Life Network for finding me the new lung that saved my life. Merv.

TORONTO, Oct. 9 /CNW/ - As Thanksgiving approaches Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) is reminding all Ontarians to talk to their family about their organ and tissue donation wishes.

"Thanksgiving is a time for all of us to give thanks. I am especially grateful for all those who when faced with the tragedy of losing a loved one made the courageous decision to donate their organs and tissue and give the gift of life. This Thanksgiving please take a moment and give thanks to all organ and tissue donors who selflessly donate their loved ones organs and tissue and save hundreds of lives a year," said Frank Markel, President and CEO of TGLN. "This holiday weekend talk to your family about your organ and tissue donation wishes."

One organ and tissue donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others.

"When my four-year-old son Fraser died my world ended, but I am forever thankful that in the face of overwhelming grief my husband and I chose to donate Fraser's organs. Nothing would ease the pain and heartache from the loss of our oldest son but we had the opportunity to make a difference with what otherwise would have been such a senseless loss," said Claire Alexander, of Guelph.

"We made the choice to give another child a chance at life - an opportunity that Fraser did not have. Our decision made a difference in the lives of seven children. I have met a number of organ recipients since Fraser's death and I feel such pride that my family has played a part in giving others a second chance. I know in my heart that there are mothers smiling because of Fraser's gift and that makes my loss a little more bearable."

Today in Ontario there are 1731 people waiting for an organ transplant. Of those, 1076 are men, 633 are women and 22 are children.

Debbie Bredin is thankful everyday because of the decision her donor families made.

"Saying thank you doesn't seem enough for the magic we see everyday in our daughter Kailyn and our son Ayden. We are thankful everyday because of the brave choice someone made," said Bredin, of Ajax.

Both Kailyn and Ayden were born with the same heart defect and required life-saving heart transplants, almost immediately after birth. Kailyn received her heart transplant when she was seven months old, almost 11 years ago and Ayden received his heart transplant when he was just 20 days old, almost eight years ago.

You have the power to save a life by registering your wishes to be an organ and tissue donor. Today, you can register your wishes at an Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) office when you renew your health card.

If you have the red and white card or have recently renewed your card and did not register your wishes, you can go to the Trillium Gift of Life Network website and download an "Organ and Tissue Donor Registration" form, fill it out and mail it in to the address on the form. (see below)

Please visit our website at http://www.giftoflife.on.ca or call 416-363-4001 or toll free 1-800-263-2833.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
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

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves