Kin Canada

Organ Donor Awareness

The Kin Organ Donor Awareness Campaign (Kin-ODAC) was established in 2001 at National Convention to improve Kin education on issues of concern and importance to organ donation across Canada, and then to extend that education throughout our communities.

It was the dream of Andrew Hatfield, born with a complex congenital heart disease and the first Kin Kid to join the St. John's East Kinsmen Club (his father, Larry, was a life member) that inspired Kin across Canada to get involved with organ donor awareness. Through his Kin connection, Andrew felt a contribution could be made to the program that became his passion, the Organ Donor program. And while thinking out loud one day he revealed his wish to help in some way. That was the beginning of what would eventually become Kin-ODAC, passed at National Convention in Corner Brook 2001 as the first ever, national public awareness project in Kin. It has become an educational avenue for the organ donor program to work through the network of clubs that is Kin Canada.

Annually, the end of April marks National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week. For Kin members, it is a time to increase awareness among ourselves about the Organ Donor program, to assist in the education of our communities, and to be a contact that the National Organ Donor Program can call upon when they need an inroad to a community where we already exist.

Partnership

This partnership with the Organ Donor Program is in fact an extension of our partnership with the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The network of Kinsmen and Kinettes has made great strides in their efforts against CF over the last 40 years. Kin can extend that power to help those who are awaiting transplants. Many of the young adults with CF have reached the age of adulthood due to the efforts of kin, and we can help them further by educating Kin members about the need for organ donation. CF patients and others need transplantation to live.

Organ donation can mean the difference between life and death for many people. For others it represents a total transformation in their quality of life. For example, a person with CF requiring a lung transplant needs the operation to live, while a person needing dialysis requires treatment three days a week for four hours and a kidney transplant would add improvement to their daily life.

"Andrew Hatfield, who died in 2000 while waiting for a transplant, would be very proud of how Kin has responded to this effort, and if he could have seen how far his dream has come he would have said a sincere thank you to all of you. There are many 'Andrews' out there, awaiting transplants to improve, prolong and save their lives." (Anne Marie Fleming, St. John’s East Kinettes)

Did you know that out of every million Canadians, only 15 are organ donors? It's true.

• Canada's organ donation rate ranks in the bottom half of countries in the western world where transplants are performed. More than 3,500 Canadians are waiting for an organ transplant, and every year nearly 150 of them die, waiting.

• We have some of the best transplant technology in the world, some of the most highly skilled surgeons, some of the most prestigious transplant hospitals, but there are never enough organs available to save enough lives.

• Too few Canadians decide to become potential organ and tissue donors. Too few Canadians talk about that decision with their families.

There's good news

The numbers above paint a picture that is hard to face. However, there is some good news (Health Canada 2002-02-27):

• Nearly 98% of all kidney transplants, 90% of liver transplants, and 85% of heart transplants are successful;

• More than 1,800 organ transplants were performed in Canadian hospitals in 2000;

• Donor families say they are comforted by the feeling that their loved one's death was not in vain.

This gives Canadians all the more reason to take the time to make their wishes known either by filling out their province's organ donor card or registering their wishes through a provincial registry. Kin Organ Donor Cards are available through Jess Wulff at Kin headquarters, jwulff@kincanada.ca, Anne Marie Fleming at flemingmyc@yahoo.ca or Jason Balaban at the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at jbalaban@cysticfibrosis.ca or (800) 378-2233 or ext 240.

Many of you may have questions involving the donation of one’s tissue or organs such as:

• Can I donate one organ, but not all?

• What is the success rate of transplantation?

• Is my age a factor?

• Is organ donation expensive?

These questions and many others can be found on related websites listed below.

Links and Resources

B.C. Transplant Society www.transplant.bc.ca

Calgary Regional Health Authority, H.O.P.E. Calgary www.crha-health.ab.ca/hlthconn/items/orgtiss.htm

Canada's National Organ and Tissue Information Site www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/organandtissue/

Canadian Association of Transplantation www.transplant.ca

Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation www.cysticfibrosis.ca

Canadian Liver Foundation www.liver.ca

Canadian Society of Transplantation www.transplant.medical.org

Canadian Tissue Centres www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/organandtissue/links/eyebank.htm

CF-SALT: Canadian Fund for the Support and Assistance to Lung Transplantations www.cf-salt.com

GiveLife: National organ and tissue site www.givelife.ca

Kin-ODAC: Kin Organ Donor Awareness Campaign www.kincanada.ca

Organ Donation Works: Site committed to identifying and removing barriers to organ donation www.organ-donation-works.org

Québec Transplant www.quebec-transplant.qc.ca/anglais/accueil2_e.htm

Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax www.cdha.nshealth.ca/transplantservices/

Sandrine's Gift of Life www.sandrinesgift.com

Toronto General Hospital Multi Organ Transplant Program www.torontotransplant.org/welcome/welcome2.html

Trillium Gift of Life Network, Ontario based www.giftoflife.on.ca

University of Ottawa Heart Institute www.ottawaheart.ca

Once you have found out more about organ donation, and if you decide that this is something that you would like to do then you can register through an Organ Donor Registry. To find out more about registering your consent, please contact the appropriate transplant program:

Canada's National Organ and Tissue Information Site

www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/organandtissue/links/provincial.htm

Yukon Transplant

(867) 667-3673

British Columbia Transplant Society

(604) 877-2240 or 1-800-663-6189

Northern Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

H.O.P.E. (Human Organ Procurement Exchange) Edmonton (403) 492-1970

Southern Alberta

H.O.P.E. (Human Organ Procurement Exchange) Calgary (403) 283-2243

Saskatchewan Transplant

(306) 655-1054

Manitoba Transplant

(204) 787-1897

Organ Donation Ontario

1-800-263-2833 (416) 351-7328

Quebec Transplant

1-877-463-6366

Atlantic Provinces

(902) 496-7008 or 1-800-563-8880

Newfoundland and Labrador

(707) 777-6600