Organ shortage a concern in Canada

The Canadian Blood Services (CBS) was given a mandate by the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Deputy Ministers of Health (excluding Quebec) to develop - in consultation with stakeholders, the public, and the medical community - a recommendation for a new national system for Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation (OTDT). Canada is one of the only countries in the western world without a national, coordinated system for organ and tissue donation and transplantation (OTDT). I had an opportunity to speak with Kim Young who is quoted in this article as well as the entire board of directors of CBS and suggested to them that the best way to increase organ and tissue donation in Canada would be to start by establishing a national on-line registry.

By Lana Haight Leader-Post, Saskatchewan News Network

A lack of awareness is behind the continued shortage of human organs available for transplantation, says the head of the program in Saskatchewan.

"We've flat-lined for years and years and years in Canada," said Raylene Matlock, manager of the Saskatchewan Transplant Program, based at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon.

In Saskatchewan, corneas and other types of tissue are retrieved more often than organs from people after they've died. In 2009, tissue was retrieved from 30 deceased donors. Typically, organs are retrieved from about 14 deceased donors each year, says Matlock.

At any one time, about 125 people in Saskatchewan are waiting for some kind of transplant.

While about 5,000 people die annually in Saskatchewan, not all have organs that would be suitable for transplanting, says Matlock.

"An ideal donor is somebody who's been healthy for most of their life and died of a catastrophic event to their brain. Now, a catastrophic event can include many things: an overdose, a trauma, a gunshot wound, a massive stroke or cerebral aneurysm," she said.

And even with suitable donors, not all tissue or all organs are retrieved. From the 14 donors in 2009, 13 livers, five hearts and 19 kidneys, including pairs, were among the organs made available for transplantation.

Matlock would like to see Saskatchewan's donation rate double to 28 deceased donors each year, but to accomplish that, people in the province need to start talking to their family and friends.

"If they have not talked to their family about what their wishes are, sometimes it makes it very difficult at this time for a family to decide what to do," said Matlock.

"Some people aren't comfortable with death, finality. And some aren't comfortable that we're keeping their loved one alive on machines. They have to be educated by us about brain death and what that actually means, that there is no blood flow to the brain. We do tests that confirm it. We do scans that confirm it."

Only the next-of-kin can provide legal consent for organs to be retrieved from someone who has died. A signed organ donor card or a sticker on a health card does not provide that consent for organ donation, says Matlock. Still, for those people who want the cards, they are available from the Saskatchewan Transplant Program offices in Regina at 766-6477 or Saskatoon at 655-5054.

Health-care workers also need to become more aware of their responsibility to encourage organ donation, says Kimberly Young, executive director of organs and tissues for Canadian Blood Services.

"No one would ever dream of not diagnosing an appendix, but often it happens that they don't diagnose the opportunity for organ donation. You would be held accountable if you missed diagnosing an appendix even if it was for someone who was 95 years old," said Young.

"We shouldn't leave it up to the person. We should have a system that says (organ donation) is the responsible and required diagnosis."

The Canadian Blood Services is drafting a document for the deputy ministers of health from the federal, provincial and territorial governments that will recommend ways to increase the rate of organs from deceased donors. Establishing a legally binding national electronic registry for people who want their organs retrieved after death could be one of the recommendations, says Young.

“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

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

Three Rivers a no-flow on CBS - cancelled?

It's sad to see that a TV medical program promoting organ donation and transplantation did not attract enough viewers. It's suggested the reason is because someone had to die for someone else to live and that someone dying every week was just too much for the public to swallow.

By Tom Jicha SunSentinel.com

It looks like the end of the line for Three Rivers, the first season medical drama about organ transplant specialists on CBS.

The network has pulled the show from the schedule for all of December, putting it in the nebulous category of "on hiatus."

CBS has a long history of not using the "C" word. Rather than admit failure by announcing a series as canceled, the network just puts them on hiatus; out of sight and out of mind. Come May, when the new fall season is announced, these shows are acknowledged as not returning.

This coming Sunday, Cold Case will move to the 9 p.m. slot, followed by a rerun of NCIS: Los Angeles.

On Dec. 13, a Criminal Minds rerun will follow Cold Case.

On Dec. 27, a rerun of Jesse Stone: Thin Ice will air 8-10 p.m. followed by Cold Case.

CBS has not announced its programming on Dec. 20 but that looks like the likely spot for the climactic episode of Survivor: Samoa and its reunion show.

There are countless reasons why a show fails. A serious issue with Three Rivers was the fact that in most episodes, someone had to die for someone else to live. Characters have to die occasionally for a medical show to have credibility. But every week was probably too much.

“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. 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 schedule for organ transplant TV series "Three Rivers"

CBS BUMPS NEW "THREE RIVERS" PILOT, SECOND EPISODE TO AIR FIRST Oct 4th at 9pm ET

the FUTON CRITIC

LOS ANGELES -- CBS is giving "Three Rivers" a new pilot - again.

Scheduling updates released by the network this morning indicate the show's second episode ("Place of Life") will now serve as its premiere on Sunday, October 4 at 9:00/8:00c. "Tick-Tock," originally set for October 4, will instead air the following week.

Here's how the Eye details the respective installments:

"Place of Life": After suffering a heart-attack, Dr. Andy Yablonski (Alex O'Loughlin) tells a young pregnant woman that in order to save her and her unborn child she must get a heart transplant. However, unexpected complications with the donor's family place the operation in jeopardy, on THREE RIVERS, premiering Sunday, Oct. 4 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"Tick-Tock": Andy and the team try to save an 18-year-old college student in need of a double lung transplant but run into a road block that might not allow her to be eligible for a new set of lungs, on THREE RIVERS, Sunday, Oct. 11 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Both episodes were filmed after the original pilot was scrapped to accommodate the addition of Alfre Woodard (replacing the Julia Ormond and Joaquim de Almeida characters) as well as relocating production to Los Angeles.

“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. 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 transplant.

Organ transplant series airs on CBS beginning this fall

This new CBS series should be of interest to our transplant community. I certainly plan to watch for it. The CBS fall Sunday evening schedule is shown at the end of this post.

"Three Rivers," a medical drama set in a Pittsburgh transplant hospital, will premiere this fall on CBS. The cast includes Alex O'Loughlin and Katherine Moennig.
Photo: John P. Filo/CBS

By Bob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuned In: CBS schedule -- 'Three Rivers' runs through it

Five years after CBS canceled its last Pittsburgh-set series, "The Guardian," the network returns to the 'Burgh for the aptly titled "Three Rivers," a medical drama that will air at 9 p.m. Sundays beginning this fall.

"Three Rivers" is set in the world of transplant surgery among organ donors, recipients and surgeons at a Pittsburgh hospital.

The series stars Alex O'Loughlin ("Moonlight") as Dr. Andy Yablonski, described as "the highly skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues."

Other characters include:

• Dr. Miranda Foster (Katherine Moennig, "The L Word"), a rebel surgeon with a temper who lives in the shadow of her surgeon father's reputation.



• Dr. David Lee (Daniel Henney, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"), a womanizing surgical resident.



• Ryan Abbott (Christopher J. Hanke), an inexperienced transplant coordinator who schedules the organ transplants.



• Dr. Sophia Jordan (Julia Ormond, "Sabrina"), the head of surgery.



• Pam Acosta (Justina Machado, "Six Feet Under"), Andy's no-nonsense operating assistant and best friend.

The "Three Rivers" pilot filmed in Pittsburgh in late March and early April using the closed Brownsville Tri-County Hospital as its primary location. Other locations included, but were not limited to, Allegheny County Airport, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center, where members of the Point Park men's basketball team filmed a scene involving a player who faces a medical emergency during a practice session.

A CBS publicist did not know where subsequent episodes of the series will film, but the Pittsburgh Film Office has gotten no confirmation that "Three Rivers" is returning to Pittsburgh to film additional episodes. A likely scenario is that the series will shoot primarily on the West Coast, like "The Guardian," returning to Pittsburgh on occasion for pick-up shots. Although Pennsylvania tax incentives make filming locally attractive to filmmakers, actors often have contracts that limit series filming locations to film industry centers (e.g. Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York).

"Three Rivers" is executive produced by director Curtis Hanson, who shot the film "Wonder Boys" in Pittsburgh, and the showrunner is Carol Barbee, a veteran of CBS dramas "Jericho" and "Swingtown." Barbee wrote the "Three Rivers" pilot.

"Three Rivers" will face stiff competition for attention opposite ABC's female-skewing "Desperate Housewives," NBC's male-skewing "Sunday Night Football" and Fox's youth-skewing animation block.

In its most aggressive programming move, CBS will shift freshman hit "The Mentalist" to 10 p.m. Thursday, where it is likely to win the time slot over ABC's "Private Practice" and NBC's "The Jay Leno Show."

CBS also picked up "Medium," which NBC canceled this week, and paired it with similarly themed "Ghost Whisperer" on Fridays.

CBS canceled "The Unit," "Worst Week," "Eleventh Hour" and "Without a Trace." Ratings for "Trace" have not been terrible, but the show is expensive to produce and it's owned by Warner Bros., not CBS.

"Rules of Engagement" will return at midseason. Canadian co-production "Flashpoint" will also return.

Here's CBS's fall schedule, with new series in bold:

SUNDAY

• 7 p.m.: "60 Minutes."



• 8 p.m.: "The Amazing Race."



• 9 p.m.: "Three Rivers": Pittsburgh-set medical drama.



• 10 p.m.: "Cold Case."

Read the full article at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“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