The Patrika
Friday, February 2nd, 2018
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BC sets new organ donation and transplant records in 2017 Vancouver — A 25 per cent increase well-trained and experienced multiin deceased organ donors helped save disciplinary team that can manage a record-breaking 479 lives in 2017. the demand while achieving excellent health results for our patients.” This significant growth is thanks to a concentrated effort on the part of The gift of life is something that Alihealth care teams in the province’s son Snowden knows very well after hospitals to identify potential donors being one of the 52 British Columbiand support families in choosing or- ans who received new lungs in 2017. gan donation. “One day I was a healthy person and In 2017, BC’s deceased donor rate the next, doctors told my family that increased to 24.9 per million people, my lungs were destroyed,” says Aliup from the 2016 rate of 20.3. This son. A rare disease meant that unless maintains BC as one of the leading Alison received a new pair of lungs provinces in Canada for deceased soon, she wouldn’t survive. “I’m so donation, in addition to being a leader thankful to my donor for this gift of for living kidney donation. life. You never think something like The increase in donors contributed to this is going to happen to you until a 13 per cent increase in total trans- it does. A transplant saved my life.” plants to 479, and a 30 per cent in- The province’s strategic and systemscrease in both deceased donor kidney focused approach to organ donation transplants (225) and lung transplants is saving more lives through the fol(52) in 2017. There was also an eight lowing: per cent increase in liver transplants, The establishment of hospitalresulting in a record number of 80. • In addition to deceased donation, 97 based critical care teams of physiliving kidney donor transplants were cians and donation coordinators who performed in 2017. support families and staff with organ donation—resulting in a 40 per cent “More lives are being saved thanks increase in hospital referrals of poto life-saving transplants than ever tential donors to BC Transplant over before,” says Dr. David Landsberg, BC Transplant’s Provincial Medical the last two years. Director, Transplant Services. “This is a result of system changes we’ve made over the past few years that are now having an impact, but also a shift in our culture to one that fully supports organ donation as a normal end-of-life option.”
• Expanding organ donation options at the hospital level, with the addition of two hospitals capable of offering donation after cardiocirculatory death.
“There are many factors that have affected this increase; there is a greater availability of organs, there’s more awareness that lung transplants are a viable option for people with endstage lung failure, and we’ve built a
strong. British Columbians are encouraged to register their own decision about organ donation, and share their wishes with their family. For more information, visit transplant. bc.ca.
• A supported shift to a culture in health care that supports organ do“We’ve had a dramatic increase in nation as a normal end-of-life option. lung transplants in British ColumIncreasing public awareness bia,” says Dr. John Yee, Medical • Director of the BC Lung Transplant of the need and value of organ donaProgram, who remembers a time tion. when there was just one lung trans- As of January 1, 2018, 638 people plant in a year, compared to the 52 were still waiting for an organ transperformed in 2017. plant in BC, and the need remains
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