BlackburnNews.com file photo of Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan Campus, July 16, 2015. (Photo by Jason Viau)BlackburnNews.com file photo of Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan Campus, July 16, 2015. (Photo by Jason Viau)
Windsor

Windsor Regional Hospital Picks Up Award For Organ Donations

The Trillium Gift of Life Network has presented Windsor Regional Hospital an award for its success providing organs from potential donors.

The Provincial Conversion Rate Award goes to hospitals that exceed the target of 58%. Last year, 63% of potential donors referred by the hospital went on to donate organs.

Director of Hospital Programs, Education, and Professional Practice with Trillium, Janice Beitel says 12 donors donated organs to 32 recipients last year.

"They were able to actually ensure that the referral related to the death of the individual came in on time [for transplantation]," she says.

Windsor Regional performed even better in the first quarter of the first quarter of this year with a conversion rate of 100%.

Of the 69 hospitals in Ontario that work with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, 29 were awarded for their efforts, and 25 for their conversion rates.

"Across Ontario, we have a provincial average of 32% so, nearly a third of people who are eligible to register at BeADonor.ca have registered their wish to be a donor," says Beitel. "In some areas, the actual registration rate exceeds that provincial average and I do know that the Essex area exceeds it."

Essex County has had some success boosting the rate of potential donors through various donor card drives organized by residents, including the family of Trevor Funkenhauser who died at the age of 35 of a rare bacterial infection that destroyed his aortic valve. His organs were donated to save the lives of three people. Since 2006, his family has raised over $200,000.

There are currently 1,500 people in Ontario waiting for an organ transplant. Every three days, someone on the list dies waiting for their surgery.

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