April 7 marks Green Shirt Day across Canada in honour of the Logan Boulet Effect, in support of organ donor awareness and registration.

Back on April 6, 2018, 13 people were injured and 16 were killed, following the Broncos bus crash, including defenseman Logan Boulet who succumbed to his injuries one day later.  Since Boulet was a registered organ donor, his parents fulfilled his wishes so he could help six lives.

Kamloops resident Gord Schmidt, whose family is involved in Green Shirt Day, says the day is meant to bring awareness and encourage people to become organ donors.

“We want to do is just bring awareness to the fact that 90 per cent of Canadians support organ donation, yet only just over 30 per cent are actually registered.”

He suggests the large gap between those who support the concept, compared to those who are registered, is due to changes over the years.

“I think part of it is we all think we’re organ donors because many years ago, we got a little orange sticker that we put on our driver’s license and we thought, well, there you go, I’m an organ donor… But that changed a long time ago.”

On top of that, Schmidt says while many people may not think their organs are good to be donated for health reasons or because of their age — he explains that is not the case.

“The oldest donor was 92 years old, and there are livers out there that are over 100 years old in their second body; let the doctors determine whether you’re healthy enough or your organs are fine enough.”

Currently, Schmidt says there are over 4,000 Canadians on a waitlist for a heart or organ donation. 

He explains the process to sign up to become an organ donor is easy, noting it can all be done online at greenshirtday.ca

“It’ll prompt you through and it takes about two minutes. You just enter your medical number off the back of your driver’s license, and it’ll tell you right away if you’re registered or not,” he explained.

“If you’re not, literally two minutes later, you go through the prompts, and now you’re registered.”

He says people can also choose whether or not they want their organs dedicated for research, or dedicated for transplant into another individual. 

On top of that, Schmidt says it is crucial to let your family know if you sign up to become an organ donor.

“They still have the final say if you know something happens to you. They have to be aware that it’s your wish as well.”

He says the goal is to get 100-thousand Canadians signed up to become organ donors this year.