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It should be a field of green in the Professional Faculties Building on Friday as UCalgary Nursing takes up Green Shirt Day (officially Sunday April 7) in support of organ donation and the legacy of 21-year-old Humboldt Broncos player Logan Boulet.

Dean Sandra Davidson, RN, PhD, says registered nurses are uniquely positioned in the transplant process and so is urging her faculty to champion the cause.

“Organ donation can be a complicated issue for patients and their families,” she explains. “When a responsible advance decision about organ donation has been made and someone passes away, as in Logan Boulet’s case, the nurse is most often the health-care practitioner who follows through on that client’s wishes. That involves sensitive communication with the grieving family, which is made easier if there has been open conversations between the family members and the donor ahead of time.”

Green Shirt Day began as a partnership of the Canadian Transplant Association, Canadian Blood Services and Global News with The Kidney Foundation of Canada joining in March. The day recognizes Boulet and the national groundswell of support for organ donation when his parents honoured his wish to be a donor, saving the lives of six Canadians.

Now known as the Logan Boulet Effect, his gift of life has inspired more than 100,000 Canadians to register their intent to donate their organs.

Kidney donation is a cause close to Davidson as her family has been impacted by kidney disease; she has served on the board of the southern Alberta branch of The Kidney Foundation for many years. She is eager for this opportunity, as a supporter and a nurse, to get behind Green Shirt Day.

“There are 4,300 Canadians on the list for a transplant and the majority need a kidney,” she says. “Every Canadian who needs a life-saving transplant should have the opportunity to get one.”

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