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Logan Boulet effect boosts organ donation

Apr 11, 2018 | 8:00 AM

It appears to be quickly becoming the Logan Boulet effect. Registrations for organ donation have surged following the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

Twenty-one-year-old Boulet, who was kept on life support following Friday’s crash, had signed a donor card and his organs went to others in need.

“Through our contact with the Saskatchewan Transplant Program we definitely understand there has been a significant increase of calls to show support for organ and tissue donation,” Luke Jackiw with the Ministry of Health told paNOW. “I would encourage people to follow up with eHealth Saskatchewan and get that sticker on their card.”

Jackiw couldn’t give the precise numbers of additional callers the transplant program had received in the three days since the bus crash that killed 15 people, and added it would take some time to report on any increases in actual donation rates.

Saskatchewan has one of the lowest rates of donation in Canada at 12.2 deceased donors per million people in 2016, increasing to 14.6 per million in 2017. But that still falls short of the national figure of 20.9 per million people according to the ministry.

Jackiw praised Boulet and his family “For their heroic actions in giving the most precious gifts to those who need them and potentially saving up to six lives.”

However, he reminded the public that families needed to be aware of someone’s wish to donate an organ.

“You can have that sticker on your card, you can be in another province and registered, but you need to have that conversation with your family and your next of kin needs to be able to say ‘yes, that’s what they wished for.’”

 

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow