Organ donation lung retrieval first of its kind in New Brunswick Editor’s Note: To protect patient privacy, specific information about this donation has not been included.
Keeping her community safe, one mask at a time Marie Crouse of Wakefield, New Brunswick knew early in the pandemic community face masks were not a passing phase. A life-long seamstress, she quickly put her skills to use and started sewing up a storm. proudly. “I’m working towards 2,000. I started out working towards 1,000 and then I thought, well, I got to 1,000, so why not make more.”
considered after all life-saving methods to save a patient’s life have been exhausted and is provided as part of quality end-of-life care. After a period of reduction in the number of donations at the start of the pandemic, the NB Organ and Tissue Program is now seeing an increase in the number of organ and tissue recoveries compared to last year. In fact, deceased donation is on the rise in New Brunswick, increasing from 11 organ donors in 2018 to 13 donors in 2019 and 17 donors so far in 2020 reaching a donation per
Horizon’s New Brunswick Organ and Tissue Program coordinated the province’s first donation after cardio-circulatory death (DCD) lung retrieval earlier this year. DCD, or donation after circulatory death, was introduced in New Brunswick in 2019 as a pilot project at the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont University Hospital Centre (Dr. Georges-L. Dumont UHC). It provides families the option of organ donation for patients with severe brain injuries who do not meet the strict criteria for brain death once a decision has been made to remove all life-sustaining treatments. “DCD was introduced progressively, with only kidneys and livers being retrieved initially from DCD donors,” said Nadya Savoie, Administrative Director, NB Organ and Tissue Program. “To date there has been a total of seven deceased DCD donors in New Brunswick, accounting for 25 per cent of organ donors since it was first introduced to NB.” Prior to 2019, deceased organ donation in New Brunswick was only possible after brain death, which occurs when the brain has permanently lost all function and a diagnosis of death using neurologic criteria has been determined. “I believe that with DCD increasing the number of organ donations, it will also provide more families who choose organ donation for their loved ones with a sense of closure and a slight positive light in the sadness in losing a loved one,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Adams, Head of the Department of Neurological Sciences, Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery and Medical Director for the NB Organ and Tissue Program’s Organ Division. “They’ll hopefully find comfort that their loved one has provided several others with the gift of life.” Given that the percentage of lung retrieval rate is lower compared to other solid organs such as kidneys or the liver, DCD increases the number of donor lungs available for transplantation. “DCD organ donation has widely increased donor potential and will increase the availability of organs for our patients on the transplant list,” said Dr Rémi LeBlanc, Intensivist, Service Chief for Intensive Care at Dr. Georges-L. Dumont UHC and Donation Physician champion for the NB Organ and Tissue Program’s Organ Division. “This is great news for New Brunswick patients who are on the transplant waiting list and for their families.” To become an organ donor, a person must be on life support, i.e. a ventilator or breathing machine in an intensive care unit (ICU), with no hope of recovery (only 1 to 2 per cent of hospital deaths in Canada). Donation is only
million population (dpmp) rate of 21.7, which is comparable to the 2019 Canadian rate of 21.9. New Brunswick’s cornea donation for transplantation dpmp rate was the highest in Canada in 2018 and continues to rise. The NB Organ and Tissue Program is a provincial program administered by Horizon Health Network and provides organ, cornea, and tissue (e.g. bones and tendons) donation services to all New Brunswickers. Visit HorizonNB.ca/Organ-Tissue for more information about the program.
After an ankle injury forced her to take some time off work in April, Marie decided to keep herself busy by sewing masks. “I am not a person to sit around and do nothing, so when this whole thing first started, I knew I had a humungous amount of fabric, so I decided to start making masks,” said Marie, who learned to sew from her grandmother when she was only 12 years old. “I started by just making a few masks and distributing them to essential workers by putting them (a message) out on Facebook and it just snowballed from there. For a while, no one was making them. I think I had the foresight to know COVID-19 wasn’t going away.” Marie began by donating 100 masks to Horizon’s Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) and quickly set to work making more. Each mask takes her around 10 minutes to complete, including cutting and sewing. Donated community masks are provided to patients or visitors entering a Horizon facility who do not have their own mask; any mask donated to a specific facility remains in that community. Prior to distribution, Horizon’s Volunteer Resources team ensure all masks are laundered and individually placed in a sealed bag with instructions for use and care. “I’m up to 1,725 donated masks now and I have another 100 ready to deliver,” said Marie
Sewing and donating 2,000 masks is no small feat. But for Marie, she says she’s just doing her part to keep everyone safe. And she’s had some help from the community, too: a huge amount of the fabric she uses has been donated to her by local residents. Not only are donated masks keeping people safe, they are helping spread a bit of much needed joy. In late October, volunteers at the URVH handed out Halloween-themed masks to children. At times, Marie has all three of her sewing machines going and even brought one of her trusty machines to her camper in the summer, so she didn’t lose any precious sewing time. “The response has been
DONATION — WHY it matters
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• There are approximately 4,400 Canadians waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant • On average 250 Canadians die each year waiting for a transplant • You, a family member or a friend is far more likely to need an organ or cornea or tissue transplant than to become a donor yourself If you needed an organ or cornea or tissue transplant would you have one? If so, please help others. Donation saves lives, improves quality of life, and provides hope for the future. It only takes two simple steps to become a donor: 1. Youmust indicate your intent to donate on your Provincial Medicare Card. You can do this by calling Service NewBrunswick at 1-888-762-8600 and select “2” to request yourMedicare Card be updated. Your newMedicare card will clearly display a “D” to indicate you are a donor. Youmay change or withdraw your intent to donate at any time. 2. Discuss your decision with your family or loved ones. It is important that those closest to you know your wishes. This could help them if they are faced with the decision to donate.
excellent,” said Marie. “I’ve had people request masks who have been given one at the hospital. After getting their mask they went to the front desk to find out who made them, so they could find a way to get more!” Marie isn’t the only person who’s sewing machine is working overtime these days. Horizon is fortunate to have received
Gloria Bellamy, volunteer at Horizon’s Upper River Valley Hospital, shows off some of the donated community face masks ready to be distributed to patients and visitors.
community mask donations from several other individuals around the province, as well as various businesses and quilting groups and Horizon employees. As of October 1, 2020, over 7,500 masks have been donated.
An assortment of holiday masks sewn by Marie Crouse, ready to be donated to Horizon.
Disclaimer: Horizon no longer accepts donations of community cloth facemasks. This decision is based on the organization’s ability to assess and meet new Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) guidelines regarding community cloth facemasks (non-medical masks and face coverings). Horizon is grateful to members of the community like Marie for their generosity in donating more than 7,500 community cloth facemasks over the last several months. These facemasks were distributed to visitors and outpatients.
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