It appears the sa国际传媒 Transplant agency is finally turning things around. For years, our province had a dreadful record in organ transplants. In the decade leading up to 2007, the number of tissue donations fell 50 per cent in sa国际传媒 We ranked last among the provinces, and sa国际传媒 stood near the bottom among developed countries.
Our national performance is still a disgrace. Many European states have donor levels far above the Canadian rate.
But here in sa国际传媒, at least, there have been some dramatic improvements. In 2013, for the first time, our province led the country in living donations and matched the Canadian average in deceased donations.
Kidney transplants from living donors increased 50 per cent last year, and overall, a record number of transplant operations were completed.
Strong new leadership at the top of the agency has evidently played a part: The physician in charge is a well-regarded specialist with experience in transplant medicine. And co-ordinators have been placed in hospitals around the province to ensure that available organs are retrieved.
One of the longstanding problems has been opposition from grieving relatives, even when their loved one signed a donor card. Legally speaking, family consent is not required.
But caregivers are often reluctant to pursue the matter. The appointment of specially trained staff to work with next of kin has helped diminish this resistance.
That said, wait times remain unacceptably long 鈥� close to four years for a kidney transplant. And many patients die before an organ becomes available. Provincewide, more than 500 people are in the lineup for a transplant.
Considering that 875,000 British Columbians have signed on with the donor registry, it鈥檚 hard to understand why this predicament still exists.
True, the medical odds of finding usable organs are long. Of the 25,000 people who died in sa国际传媒 last year, surgeons were able to retrieve tissue from only 67.
That鈥檚 one reason so much attention is being paid to living donations. But those are mainly kidney transplants, and usually between close relatives. That limits the field considerably.
One obvious solution would be to increase the number of people who become registered donors. About 24 per cent of the adults in our province volunteer.
Yet opinion polls repeatedly show huge support 鈥� in the 85 per cent range 鈥� for organ donation. If we could double the number of people on the registry, wait lists would shrink significantly.
And here a seemingly trivial factor becomes important. In days gone by, volunteer donors received a card that attached to their driver鈥檚 licence. It was a physical reminder, both for them and for family members, of a commitment made.
Today, most donors register online. To comply with privacy regulations, those transactions are encrypted and held in a secure database. In effect, only those inside the firewall know.
But if we really hope to expand the pool of volunteers, secrecy is the last thing anyone should want. This is, almost literally, one of those times to wear our heart on our sleeve.
At a time when people speak publicly about most health matters, there is room here for a more open and expressive approach. The rapid growth of various forms of social media might prove a valuable forum to raise awareness.
And no doubt there are other options. It鈥檚 common, when a loved one dies, for the family to invite donations to a charity of their choice. Perhaps this practice could be extended by inviting friends to join the transplant registry.
We all benefit from the care our health system provides. There is an opportunity here to give something in return.
Readers interested in becoming donors can visit the sa国际传媒 Transplant website at transplant.bc.ca.
