October 18, 2023
For the seventh time, the effort to save lives through organ donation by staff and physicians across London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has been recognized by Ontario Health’s Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) for surpassing province-wide targets in the complex undertaking of converting potential organ donors into actual donors.
The 2022/2023 Provincial Conversion Rate Award from Ontario Health’s TGLN recognized that 72 percent of potential donors became actual donors, nine percent higher than the provincial target of 63 percent, reflecting how well TGLN and LHSC work together to save and enhance lives through organ and tissue donation.
This award recognizes the commitment of staff and physicians from critical care, to labs, diagnostics and other departments to ensuring that once the decision to donate is made by family members, everything is done to ensure that organs remain healthy before going to a recipient, explains Ines De Campos, director of Critical Care, Trauma and Respiratory Therapy Services at Victoria Hospital.
“As a former critical care nurse, I know all of the effort that is made in terms of the coordination and facilitating all of the testing, and all of the other disciplinary teams that are involved to ensure that as many organs are viable as possible,” she says. “Keeping everything very stable is vital in whether organs go on for transplantation.”
LHSC supported just over 10 percent of Ontario’s 320 organ donors in 2022/2023. Those 33 donors provided 105 organs that saved the lives of 90 people. In addition, 72 tissue donors enhanced the lives of many others.
“London Health Sciences Centre has made an outstanding contribution to organ and tissue donation in Ontario, and we are proud to partner with their exemplary team of healthcare professionals throughout the year to continue this vital work,” says Rebecca Cooper, vice president of Ontario Health’s TGLN and Ontario Renal Network. “By ensuring that the wishes of donors are realized, we honour their selflessness and the legacy they intend to leave behind.”
For De Campos, the award – especially for the seventh time – is something everyone involved should be proud of. “They are contributing to excellent patient care and patient care delivery and successes such as these really help them understand the contributions they're making and that their efforts are having a higher impact than they probably even realized,” she says.
The London region has one of the highest organ donation rates across the country. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through tissue donation. With nearly 1,400 people in Ontario waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, every three days, someone will die waiting.
Talk to your family about your donation decision and visit www.BeADonor.ca to register or learn more.