REGINA — Saskatchewan is joining Canadians in recognizing National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month (NOTDAM) in April with several activities as well as commemorating Green Shirt Day (GSD) on April 7 in honour of Logan Boulet, whose legacy inspired almost 150,000 people across Canada to register to become organ donors.
In addition to promotional and awareness campaigns, the Government of Saskatchewan has committed increased funding to support kidney health in Saskatchewan.
The 2024-25 budget includes an increase of over $2.5 million for kidney health and organ and tissue donation and transplant. This allocation will support incremental positions within the St. Paul's Hospital and Cameco Community Renal Health Centre dialysis units, as well as the Regina and Saskatoon Organ Donation and Transplant Programs. In addition, support is being provided to implement a new electronic deceased donor management program for the provincial organ and tissue donation teams.
Heath Minister Everett Hindley and Members of the Legislative Assembly toured the Kidney Health Unit and speak with organ and tissue donation and transplant as well as Kidney Health program surgeons and staff at St. Paul’s Hospital.
On Monday, April 8, Saskatchewan Members of the Legislative Assembly wore green in support of organ and tissue donors (OTD) and shared photos using the #GreenShirtDay #LoganBouletEffect hashtags to spread the word on social media.
The T.C. Douglas Building in Regina was illuminated with green lighting from April 3-16, joining other landmarks across Canada to show support for this important cause and inspire new registered OTD.
This year, Saskatchewan is also launching a new segment in the national 'Great Actions Leave a Mark' (GALAM) campaign. This campaign will showcase living organ donors, recipients and physicians from Saskatchewan, which will be featured on givelifesask.ca.
Saskatchewan Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Mike Moser, is featured in this year's campaign. He touches on the surgical advances over the last two decades that have greatly improved patient care.
"Living kidney donations are mostly now done with laparoscopic, or what's known as keyhole surgery," Dr. Moser said. "The optics are so much better for surgeons. You see everything on multiple high-definition screens, the instruments are very fine, and you get way better exposure compared with the foot-long incision that used to be required to remove a kidney. It's a lot less pain and patients are typically in hospital for a couple days before they are good to go home and are back to work within a few weeks."
Two Saskatchewan residents also featured in this campaign include Kyle Deck and Jenna Lockert. Kyle received a life-saving kidney transplant from his sister Jenna in 2014.
"There's nothing that I can do that could ever equate to what she did for me," Deck said. "I remember driving to work and feeling so tired that I had to stop and let my partner drive. When I went to the hospital, I learned that my kidneys had completely shut down."
Lockert is an advocate for living organ donation and is often asked why she decided to become a donor.
"I think it is an unbelievable feeling and experience to know that you actually have the potential to save someone's life, and this was my brother's life that I was able to save and allow him to completely live a life again," Lockert said. "I have regular checkups and ensure that I am healthy, and I continued to have another baby afterward. I would do it over and over again."
View the personal stories of living organ donors and recipients as well as physicians from Saskatchewan at https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/health/accessing-health-care-services/organ-and-tissue-donor-registry/personal-stories/great-actions-leave-a-mark.
Saskatchewan continues to see record growth in OTD rates and enrollments to the provincial OTD Registry. The registry was launched in September 2020 and to date, almost 30,000 eligible Saskatchewan residents have registered their intent to donate their organs and/or tissues, with almost 8,500 new donors registered in the last year.
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, Saskatchewan had reported a record-breaking year for the number of deceased organ donations, with 30 total donors, a 76 per cent increase from 2018-19. In 2023-24, the Saskatchewan Health Authority recorded 33 deceased donors, the highest number on record.
With a clear understanding of a loved one's wishes, it is easier for families facing tragedy to make the decision to donate if approached by a Donor Coordinator. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and one tissue donor can help 75 people.
Anyone over the age of 16 is eligible to register their decision to be an organ and tissue donor and request information about the process of becoming a living organ donor through the Saskatchewan Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, available at www.givelifesask.ca.
