Gift of life. Organ recipient Jennifer Irwin looks out her window and hugs her lucky teddy bear, which she kept with her during her operations. Susie Kockerscheidt
Public misconceptions and cultural and religious barriers are largely to blame for York Region communities ranking poorly in Ontario organ donation registration rates, advocates said.
Trillium Gift of Life, a provincial agency championing organ and tissue donation, lists 179 provincial communities by total number of health card holders and the percentage of registered donors. With 2.5 million of Ontario’s 11.5 million card holders registered, the provincial average is 22 per cent.
Fourteen communities within York’s nine municipalities are monitored.
The good news is seven of our northern communities have registered donor rates from 22 to 31 per cent.
The disappointing rates are in the region’s south, where seven communities occupy the last positions on the list.
While encouraged with East Gwillimbury’s 31-per-cent registration rate, Newmarket’s 26 per cent, Keswick’s 25 per cent and Stouffville mirroring the provincial average, York Region Gift of Life Association founder Alyshia Van Veen knows there’s work to do to get donors to sign on the dotted line.
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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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