National Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness Week

April 22 - 28, 2007

As part of National Organ & Tissue Donation Week running from April 22– 28, a Living Green Ribbon Event took place on Thursday, April 26th on the grounds of Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

Participants were given green ponchos and formed the green ribbon, which is the symbol for Organ Donation and represents the lives that can be saved or enhanced through organ and tissue donation. Currently, over 1,700 people are on waiting lists for transplants in Ontario. Just one donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through tissue donation.

Twenty six people in Northwestern Ontario are waiting for kidney transplants, four for liver transplants and three for a heart transplant. In the Thunder Bay area, 78% of potential donors have agreed to sign their donor cards. That compares to 40% in the rest of the province.

For more information, go to www.giftoflife.on.ca

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