Saskatchewan seeking more organ and tissue donations

The Government of Saskatchewan is urging people to sign up to be organ donors.

April is National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month, and people are being encouraged to sign up for the provincial online registry.

“I’m pleased the Saskatchewan Organ and Tissue Donor Program is back up and running in full force for 2022 and will receive special focus and attention this month,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a media release.

“Since the government fulfilled its commitment to create a donor registry, nearly 18,000 Saskatchewan residents have registered online and joined the donor list. However, we want to see thousands more visit givelifesask.ca, and participate in Green Shirt Day, and Light It Green campaigns to help raise awareness for this worthwhile cause.”

Green Shirt Day is set for April 7. It’s held to honour former Humboldt Broncos defenceman Logan Boulet, who died a day after the crash between a bus carrying the SJHL hockey team and a semi in April of 2018.

Weeks before the crash, Boulet signed an organ donor registration card and made his wishes known to his family.

In what has become known as the Logan Boulet Effect, more than 150,000 Canadians registered to become donors after Boulet’s death.

April 7 will also be Light it Green Day, when buildings — including the T.C. Douglas Building in Regina — will be illuminated in green light to honour Saskatchewan people who have died while awaiting organ and tissue transplants.

“We encourage people to participate in the planned activities this month to help us raise awareness, register as organ and tissue donors but be sure to have that very important discussion with their families so their wishes are known,” Kimberly Berscheid, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s organ and tissue donation co-ordinator, said in the release.

The provincial government puts more than $1.2 million annually into the provincial Organ and Tissue Donation program.

In 2020-21, a record 26 organ donors registered in Saskatchewan, but that number dropped to 19 in 2021-22. The provincial government’s target for the 2022-23 fiscal year is 26 donors.

Information booths on organ and tissue donation will be set up at the Saskatoon Blades’ home game April 8 and the Saskatoon Rush home game on April 9.

Anyone 16 years of age and older can register as an organ and tissue donor in Saskatchewan. One organ donor can save up to eight lives, and one tissue donor can help 75 people.