Public Awareness - National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week

Leave well so others can live well

No one likes to think about dying. But—spoiler alert—it is going to happen. Choosing to leavewell when the time comes means choosing to register to be an organ and tissue donor, andultimately becoming the kind of human who may help others keep on living when your turn withliving is up. It’s a pretty nice way to wrap up this whole adventure, don’t you think?

The Leave Well campaign website and social channels will go live on April 23 2023 to kick off National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, and the guides included in the resource library will provide direction on the 7 posts you campaign partners encouraged to share through the week, as well as all of the particulars needed to integrate Leave Well posts into social strategies in the weeks following NOTDAW. 

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Campaign partners can download digital assets here: donateyourorgans.ca/resources Contact otdt@blood.ca to request the site password

Project overview

A new national, collaborative campaign platform and approach for National Organ and Tissue Donation Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW) is in development. A renewed vision for 2023-2027 brings the community together to inspire Canadians.In collaboration with the Public Education and Awareness Committee (PEAC) and its Community Forum, and following 25 years of dedicated campaigning for organ and tissue donation, NOTDAW will enter a new campaign era. 

Background

National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW) raises awareness about the critical need for more donors across the country.

It’s an opportunity to recognize those who have donated to save others, celebrate those who have received lifesaving transplants, and inspire Canadians to learn about organ and tissue donation, talk to their families about their decisions, and register their intent to become organ and tissue donors.

Bill C-202, enacting National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week in Canada was passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology on Feb. 4, 1997. The bill was brought forward by former Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague. The last full week of April was chosen to mark the occasion and to commemorate the death of Stuart Herriott, a toddler killed in a motor vehicle incident in McTeague’s riding of Pickering-Scarborough East. Parents of two-and-a-half-year-old Herriott donated his organs and, in turn, helped to save and improve the lives of four others. McTeague says the intent of the bill was to encourage education and awareness about donation and allow Parliament to take a leadership role in addressing the scarcity of organs and thinking about those who die every year waiting for a transplant.