ORGAN DONATION is a true gift of life. With a new multi-organ transplant facility at Vancouver Gen- eral Hospital and an expanding intensive care unit at Lions Gate Hospital, staffed by doctors and nurses committed to supporting the provincial organ donor program, there is a timely need for people to talk organ donation. This is the first of a two-part series looking at some of the issues raised by the organ donation process. LGH a B.€. leader jn denor referrals THE NORTH Shore’s Lions Gate Hospitai, a designated regional trauma centre, has become a provincial leader in the supply of organ donor referrals to the Pacific Organ Retrieval for Transplantation (PORT) Program. An expanded intensive care unit, staffed by doctors and nurses strongly committed to supporting the organ transplant program, has made the hospital a vital link in the PORT transplant system, PORT has been the agency responsible for coordinating a province-wide organ transplant service since its inception in 1985. Said Bob Beckett, PORT transplant coordinator for LGH: **Lions Gate Hospital has become one of our major referral centres in all of B.C.” Since the August 1988 opening of a multi-organ transplant cen- tre at Vancouver General Hospi- tal, B.C. has become self-suffi- cient in al! major organ transplant services. For example, the province’s first heart transplant was perforined at VGH on Dec. II. Meanwhile, recent medical ad- vances have resulted in a dramatic increase in transplant success rates. Corneal (eye) transplants post an average 95 per cent success rate, while kidney and heart transplants are successful 80 per cent of the time. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter But the availability of donor organs continues to be a prob- lem. The need for organs remains greater than the resources. The PORT transplant waiting list tells the story: 160 people in need of kidneys; 14 waiting for a heart; five waiting for a heart and lungs; 300 waiting for cornea transplants. Names will also be added to a waiting list for liver sransplants now that a_ liver transplant program is in piace at VGH. While there is no waiting list fer skin transplants, a single house fire resulting in burn inju- rics can quickly diminish supplies banked at hospitals. According to Beckett, for the year to date, there have been 32 multi-organ donors in B.C. Multi-organ donors are people who have been declared brain dead. For a sionation to take place, family consent must be given for organ retrieval. 3 - Sunday, August 13, 1989.. North Shure News NEWS pheto Tom Burley CHRIS BOND, of North Vancouver, is living proof of the benefits made possible by a successful organ donation program. He received a new heart three years ago and is living a full and productive life. Organ denor information pamphtets and registry cards are available from motor vehicle branches, Autoplan agents, public health units, hospitals and B.C. government agents. NV couple makes tough decision after tragedy THE SUCCESS or failure of an organ transplant program turns on the deli- cate issue of the value of a life after death. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter Most of us tend to live with a detached acceptance of mortality. We think of our own p2ssing, or the death of those close to us, as something to come to terms with in some faraway future. But sometimes death comes too soon, and we are asked to act. On a spring dvy in i986, Nort. Wancouver residents Joan and Barry Smith were told that their 18-year-old son Gary, who had been injured in a motorcycle ac- cident, wasn’t going to make it. He had been admitted to the emergency unit at Lions Gate Hospital in the morning. The teenager had suffered fractures and scalp lacerations after the motorcycle he ws riding collided with another icle at an in- tersection. He, later, his britin began to bleed and he slipped in- to a coma. Said Barry Smith: ‘‘They did a CT scan and then they did some exploratory surgery. Three doctors approached us, the anes- thetist, a neurosurgeon and Gary’s doctor. They said it did not look good. It was only a Photo submitted NORTH VANCOUVER residents Joan and Barry Smith are com- forted by the fact that their son's antimely death has helped others to live. The family gave consent for their son to be a multiple organ donor. matter of time — he was slowly bieeding to death. They ap- proached us at that time about considering organ donation. It was a tough decision, there’s no question about it.”’ The decision was made all the more difficiwlt because the parents had never discussed the issue of organ donation with their dying child. The family members eventually based their agreement to consent on an in- stinctive feeling about what their son would have wanted. But said Smith: ‘‘You’ve got to talk to each other and you’ve got to talk with your children. Teenagers are invincible. They know they're not going to die. Of course it’s not the case. We’ve subsequently talked about it in depth with our three other children. We have a 10-year-old at home. He doesn't really un- derstand all of the ramifications of life and death and organs and bodies and everything else, but you can still talk to him about these things. He has a basic un- derstanding of what organ dona- tion is all about.” Given the emotionally-charged circumstances of their situation when they were approached by the team of physicians for con- sent to organ donation, the cou- ple strongly believes the question could have been handled better. “This happened in °86 and things have improved quite a bit since then. We were in a waiting room in the hallway with some of Gary's friends. Basically we were told, ‘Your son is going to die.’ And in the next breath it was, ‘Can we have his organs?’ It was incredibly calious,’? said Barry Smith. Added Joan Smith: ‘‘In retrospect, I see it is a hard job for doctors to do. You don’t take Organ Donors 101. You have no .way of knowing about how to approach a family. Some doctors have terrible bedside manners anyway. He just wanted to say it and go.”” Since their experience, the Smiths have been working with the Pacific Organ Retrieval for Transplantation (PORT) pro- gram to help make intensive care hospital staff more sensitive to the needs of potential donor fam- ilies. Together, they have attended workshops to recount their expe- rience with the organ donation process to staff at Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. “The initial approach to the family is an area that requires very special training and con- sideration. Ours wasn’t handled very well. That’s why we got in- volved with the (PORT) pro- gram. For God’s sake, when you’ve got io tell a family that their son is going to die, don’t hit them with a second whammy right away,’’ said Barry Smith. Gary died 24 hours after con- sent was given for organ dona- tion. Three months later the couple received a letter from PORT thanking them for their decision and informing them of what organs had been used to benefit others. Said Joan Smith: ‘‘It was so good to hear that something good came out of something bad, and that it had improved some- body else’s life.’’