There are about 4600 Canadians on the wait list to receive an organ with over 250 New Brunswickers among them.
However, the nurse manager for the provincial organ donation program Jessica Bonnelly says that number does not accurately represent the real need because to make the list a patient needs to be healthy enough to be able to recover from the surgery.
“They think probably that just represents a third of the real need of patients waiting that need an organ,” says Bonnelly.
“To be an organ donor, to qualify, the criteria is strict — not considering the health of the donor but just to qualify. To be brain dead, to be an organ donor in New Brunswick it is maybe 2-percent of all deaths. So it’s why there really is a critical need.”
It’s National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week during which you’re encouraged to make or renew a commitment to being a donor. An organ donor can save up to eight lives.
