National Organ and Tissue Donor Week - Donating human tissues: a wish to be respected

MONTREAL, April 23, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Héma-Québec plans to make the most of National Organ and Tissue Donor Week to remind the public about the importance of consenting to donate organs and tissues.

It is with this in mind that it is taking part, again this year, in an awareness raising campaign highlighting the important role played by the loved ones of donors and medical teams when it is time to consent to an organ and tissue donation. Using testimonials, a video presented on the Web and on Héma-Québec's Web site (www.hema-quebec.qc.ca, Videos tab) highlights the intensity of the grief experienced by the loved ones of donors, as well as the comfort that consenting to a donation can provide.

A decision to be made known... and to be respected
This initiative is intended to highlight the importance of informing your loved ones about your decision to agree to donate organs and tissues and to express this wish while you are alive. These actions can greatly facilitate the process surrounding the donation of organs and tissues for all of those involved, starting with your loved ones. The desire to respect a donor's wishes and, in this manner, give a second breath of life to others, gives bereavement a meaning.

Obviously, the first step in making sure that your wishes will be respected involves registering with the Organ and Tissue Donation Consent Registry. To date, more than 400,000 people have joined the registry that was created a little over a year ago by the Government of Québec and is now managed by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. For more information about how to consent to an organ and tissue donation, visit www.signezdon.gouv.qc.ca.

About Héma-Québec
In addition to its role as a supplier of blood products for Québec, Héma-Québec also supplies human tissues intended for transplants (including skin grafts, heart valves and muscular-skeletal tissues such as tendons and bones), and makes its products available to hospitals in Québec. Moreover, Héma-Québec also collects eyeballs to be used in cornea transplants.

To learn more about donating human tissues, click on Human tissues on the Héma-Québec Web site at www.hema-quebec.qc.ca.

Héma-Québec's mission is to efficiently provide adequate quantities of safe, optimal blood components, substitutes, human tissues and cord blood to meet the needs of all Quebecers; to provide and develop expertise along with specialized and innovative services and products in the fields of transfusion medicine and human tissue transplantation.

Give blood. Give life.

Information:
Valérie Legault
Information Officer
External Communications Department
514-832-0871
[e-mail]
www.hema-quebec.qc.ca

For further information:

Valérie Legault
Information Officer
External Communications Department
514-832-0871
[e-mail]
www.hema-quebec.qc.ca