(AHS)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

'Give Life Alberta'

AHS encourages families to talk about organ and tissue donation in new campaign

Apr 22, 2024 | 4:44 PM

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has launched a new public awareness campaign for organ and tissue donation and revealed a new name for its provincial donation program.

The announcement was made for National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, which takes place from April 21-27.

The campaign, titled “All the Ways”, is a series of video and print ads showing creative methods of informing loved ones about a person’s decision to donate organs and tissues. While officials describe the campaign’s tone as light-hearted, they say the goal is to normalize talks about deceased donation. AHS says grieving families faced with the difficult decision to donate often find it easier if they know what their loved one wanted.

The Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Program has been renamed to Give Life Alberta. AHS states the new name is a call to action for Albertans to register their intent to donate online at GiveLifeAlberta.ca and to tell loved ones about their decision. Albertans can also continue to register to donate at motor vehicle registry offices. While signing the back of their Alberta Health card is still accepted, officials say it is not preferred over online registration, and families must be informed in case the card is lost.

“The Government of Alberta is proud to support this life-saving program and campaign,” said Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health and MLA for Red Deer-North in a release. “Increasing donation rates will reduce wait times for transplants and allow seriously ill patients to get back to life.”

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AHS claims one organ donor can save up to eight lives, and a tissue donor can save or dramatically improve lives for up to 75 people. While Alberta marked another record year – with 273 organ and tissue donors in 2023 — there are almost 300 people waiting for life-saving transplants in the province. Last year, nearly 50 people on the wait-list died, they said.

Airdrie resident Kinza Barney said she applauds the effort to encourage Albertans to act on their good intentions. Upon receiving the news that her 15-year-old son Zachary would not survive a dirt bike crash, she said her family knew what he would want. Barney said he had a conversation with her weeks before, while practising for his driver’s test.

“He had asked me, ‘Are you a donor?’ because he knew that going in to get his driver’s licence, eventually that was something that was going to be asked of him,” said Barney.

“I showed him my licence and said, ‘See it says ‘donor’ and there’s a little heart at the bottom. What do you think?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely. I want to be an organ donor.’ ”

Zachary’s road test was scheduled for his 16th birthday in 2022. Instead, he donated his organs that day, saving five lives, AHS confirmed.

“Looking back, what a coincidence to have had that conversation with a 15-year-old … only to be here today and having to make a decision that reflects his wishes,” said Barney. “It made our decision a lot easier for sure.”

AHS said their donor coordinators are approaching more families than ever since Alberta’s Bill 205 took effect one year ago. The bill aims to create a more structured pathway for the organ and tissue donation process and ensure specialists have adequate time to identify and assess potential donors and discuss the option with families.

“The families that have talked about organ and tissue donation, they are able to know exactly what their loved one’s wishes are and either sign the consent or not,” said donor coordinator Carey Beninger. “It makes such a difference in such a stressful time. They don’t want to get it wrong. They want to be sure this is what their loved one would have wanted.”

To learn more about organ and tissue donation, or to register to donate, visit GiveLifeAlberta.ca