There are little comforts that came from the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6.
Since the accident, Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Transplant Society say donations for blood and organs have increased.
Logan Boulet is being credited with increasing organ donation commitments, says President and CEO of Canadian Transplant Society, James Breckenridge. He was saddened to hear about the tragedy but he takes solace in Boulet’s story, he says.
“We have this one boy who’s now saved the lives of six others.”
Boulet was honoured this week by the SJHL for these six “assists” with Player of the Week, leading the way along side his other Humboldt Bronco teammates and coaching staff.
Donation commitments have jumped over 100 per cent and much of it is because of Boulet’s donation, says Breckenridge.
Before the Broncos accident, Breckenridge says previous donor drive events for young people would result in five person signing their organ donor card.
The weekend of the accident, their donor drive booth at the Green Living Show in Toronto had over 100 people committing to being organ donors, 40 of those were of the “young adult crowd.” Many of the now organ donors attributed their wanting to become donors to Boulet, says Breckenridge.
“It’s unfortunate that it was based on such a tragedy but hopefully, out of those people, more lives are saved and enhanced.”
Mike Fisher, territory manager with Canadian Blood Services says their inventory was stable before the accident but a rough winter meant a call to arms for more donors.
The April 6 accident has caused an abundance of people donating blood, starting on April 7, more than they have ever seen, says Fisher.
Donors at the Saskatoon location were being booked to come back at a later day, says Fisher, since they can only get so many people through the door on a certain day.
It takes about an hour to donate, says Fisher, with questionnaires in place to ensure it is safe for the donor to donate.
It takes about five to 20 minutes in the chair to actually donate, he says.
Men can donate every 56 days, and women every 84 days.
Breckenridge says that one person can save eight lives while enhancing up to 75 with donations of skin, eyes, tendons, and other parts of the body that can be transplanted.
With Saskatchewan not having an organ registry, Breckenridge says that it is imperative that people speak with their family and friends and make their wishes known. In Saskatchewan, the wishes of the family can trump the wishes of patient.
“Once a person falls into a coma, all medical decisions fall on the family, and not just organ donation...Friends can support the family in times of real tragedy.”
Both Fisher and Breckenridge offer their condolences to Humboldt. While they were saddened by the accident, they are happy to see all the support that has come of it.
Visit blood.ca to learn more about blood donation and to book your appointment.
In Saskatchewan, contact Saskatchewan Health to receive your organ donor sticker for your health card.
