A new online registry for organ and tissue donation was recently unveiled by Minister of Health Jim Reiter. The digital registry will allow Saskatchewan residents to better declare their intent to be donors. The registry has been in development for some time and has been a long-promised by the governing Saskatchewan Party.

The new online system will not replace the current stick and card that interested donors currently have with their health cards. Instead, it's meant to accompany the old system.

Blaine Pho's wife passed away while waiting for a kidney donation. He advocated for the new registry. (Photo courtesy of the Prov. Government.)

"Right now, the system where we ask people to put a sticker on their card, really that just sort of signals the intent of a person. But there is no central clearing point. We have no idea how many people have done that, and health officials have no access to what people's intent is without the card," Minister Reiter shared.  "Now when someone has registered as a donor, this will provide medical staff the opportunity to see that they can broach the subject with the family, and so that the family understands that was the intention."

Statistics collected in other jurisdictions indicate that a family's knowledge of a donor's intent is crucial to increasing donation numbers. According to data, when families are approached about a loved one being a donor only about 50% say 'yes'. When intent has been clearly declared that number jumps to 90%.

All this means, on top of taking a few minutes to register online, Saskatchewan residents should also talk with their families about donation.

"Our rates for people to be donors for transplants have been far too low for too long. So, we think this will be a major step forward and we're encouraging everyone to go online and sign up," Minister Reiter added. "We want to see what sort of developments this brings. We think between this and public awareness, so people just know and understand how important it is to register and talk with their family. If the situation arises that could be a donor it increases, this increases the likelihood that they actually will be. We know it's not the most comfortable conversation to have... but it's so important."

Declaring your intent to donate is incredibly easy. Simply visit www.givelifesask.ca click on the 'Register Online' button or print out the form and mail it in. When you register, you're asked to provide your health card number, name, date of birth, and an email address. Any Saskatchewan resident over the age of 16 can register.

"I spoke to friend of mine this morning who had a transplant in 2006, and he's alive and well today because of it. At the conference today when we announced a young man spoke to the fact that he lost his wife 2 years ago while she was waiting for a kidney transplant because there wasn't a donor available. We just think we should be doing anything we can to increase the number of people who will register to be donors and will save lives because of it."

Minister Reiter confirmed that he registered when the service first came online.