BC Transplant is celebrating a historic milestone this week, marking 11,000 organ transplants in British Columbia as part of its annual Operation Popcorn campaign.
For the 33rd consecutive year, volunteers are delivering festive popcorn packages to health-care teams across the province, expressing gratitude for their crucial role in organ donation and transplantation.
The milestone is a testament to the dedication of health-care professionals in B.C., who support life-saving transplants while honouring the wishes of donors and their families.
This year, more than 80 volunteers — comprising transplant recipients, living donors, and families of deceased donors — personally delivered 150 boxes of popcorn to health-care teams at 28 sites, including intensive care units, emergency departments, operating rooms, transplant units, clinics, and pharmacies.
For many hospital staff, Operation Popcorn signals the beginning of the holiday season.
At Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital, volunteers, including transplant recipient Karen Fontaine, joined the effort to deliver the popcorn on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
This year’s campaign is particularly meaningful for Fontaine, as Dec. 9 marks the 14th anniversary of her life-saving transplant, a milestone she calls her “transplantiversary.”
These deliveries also provide a rare and emotional connection between the health-care teams involved in organ donation and transplant recipients.
“Health-care teams on the organ donation side often have limited contact with transplant recipients, and those who work with transplant recipients don’t usually interact with organ donors and donor families,” said Eric Lun, executive director of BC Transplant. “When they meet our volunteers at the Operation Popcorn deliveries, it is a powerful affirmation of the power of the gift of life.”
BC Transplant is encouraging British Columbians to discuss their organ donation wishes with their families and take two minutes to verify or register their decision at checkyourdecision.ca or registeryourdecision.ca.
More than 600 people in the province are currently waiting for the life-changing call that could save their lives.
For more information on organ donation and transplantation, visit transplant.bc.ca.
BC Transplant oversees all aspects of organ donation and transplantation in B.C. and operates under the Provincial Health Services Authority.
The province’s three transplant centres — BC Children’s Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and Vancouver General Hospital — work in collaboration with eight regional clinics to provide follow-up care close to patients’ homes.
“This milestone truly demonstrates our collective commitment to honour the end-of-life wishes of organ donors and their families, and save lives through transplants,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. “BC Transplant’s Operation Popcorn campaign is such a positive way to shed a light on their collective efforts while raising public awareness about the positive impacts of organ donation, and I offer my deepest gratitude to all our health-care professionals involved in organ donation and transplants.”