The north is playing its part in the provincewide rise in organ donor registration.
Last year the north more than doubled the number of annual registrants, signing up 4,033 people compared to 1,767 in 2014. That dip presented a four-year low; since 2011, the north has brought out at least 2,100 registrants.
"Public awareness of organ donation also received a boost in 2015 through a partnership between Service BC and BC Transplant aimed at making it easy for people to register at any of the 62 Service BC locations throughout the province," said BC Transplant in a late February press release.
While northerners are signing up more than ever before that hasn't yet translated into actual donations.
Data provided by BC Transplant showed that over the last seven years donations from Northern Health region were flatlined at one or none each year.
Contrast that to the steady and even "dramatic" rise in province-wide donations from 32 in 2009 to 95 in 2015. As of February 2016, BC Transplant counted 60,506 registrants who say their home is in northern B.C.
And when it comes to registered donors, last year's northern numbers are better than the rest of B.C. Since it launched the April 2015 pilot program to sign up donors with drivers licences, more than 38,000 registered their decision.
That amounts to a 36 per cent increase over the previous five-year average for that same time frame.
Now, about one fifth of British Columbians or - 968,156 - have registered a decision either way.
This, despite the estimated 95 per cent who support organ donation, according to BC Transplant's fact sheet. However, only a small number of people who die are actually eligible to become organ donors.
According to BC Transplant, less than one percent of people "die in a way that would enable them to become an organ donor."
Dr. Fareen Din, the north's transplant liaison spoke last week about efforts in the health system to increase organ donation.
"If there are missed opportunities it's because general population education," said Din.
"And (missed opportunities) within the healthcare system itself - not only in Prince George but outside - physicians identifying potential organs if they have a catastrophic illness."
Population education is a provincial directive, but Din said people need to have those conversations with their family.
"That does involve to some extent the population, having discussions amongst themselves whether a loved one would wish to be a donor in the event of something catastrophic happening to them.
But it also involves education of physicians to potentially identify those critically ill patients who may be a donor."
One organ donor can save eight lives. To start this year, B.C. had 562 people on its transplant waitlist. In 2015, 21 people died while on that very same list.
To keep getting the word out, BC Transplant is expanding their recruitment efforts to ICBC. In March it launched a new pilot in four ICBC offices: Abbotsford, Kelowna, North Vancouver and Vancouver.
People can also register to become an organ donor online at www.transplant.bc.ca, at any Service BC office or by calling 1-800-663-6189.
