Sault Area Hospital recognized for organ donation efforts
Sault Area Hospital is being hailed as a champion of organ and tissue donation by the Trillium Gift of Life Network. The hospital is being recognized for its efforts to integrate organ and tissue donation into end-of-life care.
The hospital is being praised on two fronts: exceeding the provincial conversion rate of potential donors becoming actual donors, and for facilitating organ donation discussions with patients nearing end-of-life.
The hospital's director of clinical programs said the latter can be very challenging work for staff.
"It is not easy for the families and loved ones either, and I am quite proud of the work that we do here," said Mindy Lindstedt. "We do often get recognition and thanks from patients and families for how well we've navigated some of those conversations and made these decisions easier on them."
Lindstedt and the hospital are encouraging everyone to register to donate organs and tissue at BeADonor.ca.
Deanna Lynn knows the importance of organ donation, receiving a lung transplant in 2012. The Orillia native remembers what it was like to take her first breath with her new lung.
"I automatically filled with such joy, I can't explain it," said Lynn. "My whole being filled with such joy that I took my first breath without help."
Lynn said she had only months to live when she received her transplant, and is forever grateful to the donor's family. Getting a new lease on life included watching one of her sons get married.
"I was on oxygen when my eldest son got married and that was horrid, walking down the aisle holding oxygen and can't breathe," she said. "But the second son after my transplant ... I've had a baby granddaughter, my other son is getting married pretty soon, I've been travelling."
Meantime, officials at Sault Area Hospital said the city exceeds provincial donor numbers with a 48 per cent registration rate, placing the Soo at 73 out of 170 communities in Ontario.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.