With files from Keira Miller, Saskatoon Media Group
April 30 marked the final day of promoting increased awareness around tissue and organ donations in Canada. Anyone can become either an organ or tissue donor easily, a potentially lifesaving decision, as one organ donor can save up to eight lives, and one tissue donor can impact the lives of up to 75 people.
That information came courtesy of Donor Coordinator with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Monica Keet, during the month of April. Keet shared that the list of people waiting for an organ transplant in Canada is 4400 names long, and that over 250 Canadians die every year while waiting. Numbers are high for the province in general, but specifically within the Indigenous population added Keet.
Signing up to be an organ donor is easy as going to givelifesask.ca where anyone older than 16 with a Saskatchewan health card can easily sign up.
"Saskatchewan doesn't hand out organ and tissue stickers for your health card or license anymore. Anybody over the age of 16 can register online, and it only takes a few minutes. You just need your name and your health card number." said Keet.
Keet and the SHA also encourage people to have the organ donor conversation with family members. The number of people waiting is a lot higher than the supply, but every person that signs up as a donor provides the chance to one day provide a lifesaving transplant.