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Part 1 of 2

Those living on Vancouver’s west side are several times more likely to sign up to be an organ donor than those living in East Vancouver, according to data from B.C.’s organ donor registry.

At The Vancouver Sun’s request, BC Transplant provided data on the number of people on its registry in every postal code area of the province. The Sun then compared that against population figures from the most recent census.

The data shows that, overall, about one in five B.C. residents are on the registry. But rates vary greatly depending on where you live.

In some neighbourhoods on Vancouver’s west side, such as Kitsilano (V6K) and Point Grey (V6R), a third or more of residents are on the organ donor registry. Rates are also high in the downtown Victoria neighbourhoods of V8S and V8V.

In contrast, in some areas of East Vancouver — including South Vancouver (V5X) and Collingwood (V5R) — just seven per cent of residents have signed up to be an organ donor.

Registry rates are also below 10 per cent in parts of Richmond (V6X, V6Y) and north Surrey (V4N, V3V).



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BC Transplant doesn’t ask people’s ethnicity or income when they register. However, an analysis by The Sun found that, generally speaking, higher-income neighbourhoods have higher organ donor registry rates while those with a large share of immigrants have lower rates.

Amber Appleby, provincial operations director for BC Transplant, said the agency couldn’t say why some groups may be more likely to sign up than others.

“It’s a good question,” she said. “I don’t know how much research has been done in that regard.”

However, Appleby said BC Transplant has made a concerted effort in recent years to reach out to immigrant communities, including having its volunteers attend various ethnic festivals and translating its outreach materials into Punjabi and Chinese.

“There has been specific outreach with various ethnic groups but it may just be that it’s not reaching those people,” she said.

In addition to providing registry figures by postal code area, BC Transplant also provided The Sun with data by age and gender.

That data shows that 24 per cent of B.C. women are on the organ donor registry, compared to just 18 per cent of B.C. men.

Appleby said there’s plenty of evidence that women volunteer more often than men and signing up for the registry may just be another example of “the role of women as caregivers.”

The other possibility, she said, is that women are confronted with the choice to register more often; for example, when they open their child’s birth registration package and see an organ donor brochure tucked inside.

BC Transplant’s data also shows that younger British Columbians are more likely to sign up as donors than older ones.

Thirty per cent of those aged 20 to 29 are on B.C.’s organ donor registry, compared to just 20 per cent of those in their 50s.



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Appleby said BC Transplant has made a conscious effort to encourage young people to sign up as donors through events at high schools, hoping that students will encourage the rest of their family to follow suit.

“If you talk about it in schools, they’re going to impact their friends, they’re going to bring their parents into the discussion,” she said.

Social media has also played a role in motivating young people, said Appleby.

New Westminster resident Eva Markvoort, who struggled publicly with cystic fibrosis and a double lung transplant, helped lead a successful campaign to encourage British Columbians to sign up as organ donors before her death in 2010.

Facebook has also boosted interest among young people by allowing users to indicate on their profile that they’re a registered organ donor.

B.C. residents can check to see if they’re on the organ donor registry by entering their Care Card number at transplant.bc.ca. If they’re not already registered, they can sign up online at the same place.

Paper registration forms are also sent out by BC Transplant along with new driver’s licenses and Care Cards.

In some jurisdictions, like the state of Michigan, people are explicitly asked if they want to be an organ donor when they renew their driver’s license.

That’s not the case in B.C., said Appleby, although the agency is in discussions with the B.C. government to see if there’s a way to make registration part of signing up for the new BC Services Card.

“That’s something we’re going to be moving forward with fairly soon,” she said. “But it can’t increase the transaction time at the counter.”

BC Transplant wants to make it easier for people to join the registry, said Appleby. But it also wants to ensure that people are giving informed consent and aren’t pressured to sign up if they don’t really want to.

While BC Transplant encourages people to be on the registry, it’s not the final word on whether someone actually becomes an organ donor.

Regardless of whether someone is on the registry or not, the family of a potential donor will still be asked if they want their loved one’s organs to be donated.

Indeed, of the 458 deceased organ donors in B.C. during the past decade, three-quarters were not on the registry at the time of their death.

“The bottom line is, really, the decision-making for organ donation is made at bedside,” said Dr. Jagbir Gill, a transplant doctor at St. Paul’s Hospital. “It’s really next of kin making the decision without any documented knowledge up front.”

Similarly, if someone is on the registry but their spouse objects, the surgery will not go ahead.

“If that person says, ‘No, he didn’t really mean that, his views have changed,’ — no, we would never proceed,” said Appleby.

The registry still serves an important role, though, in clarifying people’s wishes.

“The importance of the registry is you and your family are making a decision while you’re calm and in a rational state,” said Appleby. “And it takes the pressure off the family from making that decision for you.”

The data provided by BC Transplant only included total registry counts by postal code area, gender and age. It did not contain personal information about individuals.

While the vast majority of people on the organ donor registry want to be donors, people can also register their wish not to, something fewer than one per cent of those on the registry have done.

cskelton@vancouversun.com

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