Starting tomorrow, every British Columbian visiting an ICBC driver licensing location will be asked to register their decision about organ donation. To increase the number of people with a registered decision, ICBC and BC Transplant are expanding a provincial partnership to all ICBC driver licensing locations across the province.
Fifty per cent of British Columbians believe they have registered a decision on organ donation but, in fact, only 21 per cent have. For this reason, last year ICBC ran a pilot in four locations where staff provided information about organ donation to customers and encouraged them to register their decision.
Over 15,000 customers registered their decision on organ donation as a result of the pilot. Based on the success of the pilot at the North Vancouver, Abbotsford, Kelowna and Vancouver Royal Centre driver licensing offices, the remaining 14 ICBC driver licensing locations throughout B.C. will start the program today.
“More than 600 people are desperately waiting for organ donation in B.C.,” said Greg Kyllo, MLA for Shuswap on behalf of Terry Lake, Minister of Health and Todd Stone, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. “We saw tremendous success through ICBC and BC Transplant’s initial partnership. The government of British Columbia is thrilled to see the program expanding. We believe it can make a real difference.”
Last year 1.1 million customer transactions were completed at ICBC driver licensing offices. Customers attend driver licensing locations for transactions related to their driver’s licence, BC identification, BC Services Card, as well as to pay various tickets and penalties.
“We know that an overwhelming amount of people support organ donation so we’re pleased to get behind this important cause to make it easy for our customers to register their decision,” said Mark Blucher, ICBC’s president and CEO. “With so many British Columbians visiting our offices, it’s a great opportunity to have these conversations.”
“The conversation around organ donation and registering your wishes is so important, and we need to create opportunities for these conversations to happen in communities, workplaces, and with family and friends. The expansion of the ICBC program does just that,” said Leanne Appleton, BC Transplant’s provincial executive director. “Talking about organ donation has a direct impact on organ donor registrations, and can lead to more British Columbians receiving life-saving transplants.”
A customer only needs to register once in a lifetime, but a decal on your driver’s licence is no longer enough to ensure you’re registered as an organ donor. Register your decision at register.transplant.bc.ca or call 1-800-663-6189.
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