CORNWALL — Ronnie Gavsie, president and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, said her organization will capitalize on social media to increase awareness for National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week by launching the “Gift of Eight” campaign.

“We’ve just launched what we’re calling the ‘Gift of Eight’ movement, an exciting new vehicle for individuals or organizations to share ownership in increasing awareness and the number of organ donation registrations,” she said.

“We’ve found when people hear personal stories from others who are donor families or recipients, they tend to move to action. The personal ask is the most powerful.”

The “Gift of Eight” campaign is simple. A person takes out a personal page and invites their friends, family and co-workers to join them in taking action to raise awareness for the cause.

“They can watch their contribution to registration through their own site so we’re hoping to see a huge impact,” Gavsie said.

“We get a lot of interest, but we measure success in terms of registration rates. We see an increase, but we want to see a dramatic increase this year. We’re capitalizing on social media to make that personal ask for action.”

There are many activities going on throughout the province that bring great attention to organ and tissue transplants, Gavsie added, with the goal being to increase organ and tissue donor registration rates — especially in areas where registrations are low, like Cornwall.

“I’m looking at the numbers for Cornwall and it’s at 15%,” she added.

“The provincial average is 21%, but Cornwall’s still higher than some. The GTA, for instance, is 13%. Still, it gives us all a dose of humility and a call to action.”

Out of 181 Ontario communities, Cornwall ranks 164th, with 7,815 registered donors of a possible 46,525 health card holders 16 years or older.

Three communities outside of Sudbury — Garson, Hanmer and Lively rank 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

The surrounding regions fared slightly better, according to the trackable statistics provided by www.BeADonor.ca.

The United Counties of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry posted a 17% donor registration rate.

Asked why donors are so heavily outnumbered by recipients in the province, Gavsie pointed to a number of “misconceptions and misinformation” standing in the way of more equal numbers.

“People don’t understand that although they’ve signed a donor card and decided they wish to be a donor, they aren’t registered in the provincial data base,” she said.

“It’s still necessary to register through www.BeADonor.ca. You can do it online, you can download the form and mail it in or visit a Service Ontario office and register there.”

Gavsie said others often feel they’re too old to be a donor but age doesn’t matter.

“There are records of donors in their 90s and over 100 years of age,” she added.

“You’re never too old to be able to give the gift of life.”

Gavsie said others feel they may have existing medical conditions that would make them unsuitable donors.

“In fact, there is no medical condition that precludes registration,” she said. “Tests would be done to ensure medical suitability, but nothing would preclude registering.”

Perhaps the biggest misconception of all, according to Gavsie, is that there are religious laws which preclude registration to donate.

“That’s simply not the case,” she said.

“Most major religions consider donation an obligation, saving lives is an obligation and the religious leaders teach that.”

Gavsie said there’s a lot of people who say they believe in donation, yet do not register.

“When you ask why they don’t, some of these issues come up,” she said. “People put off doing lots of things – like making a will. They feel it won’t happen to them and they’ll never need to.”