Operation Popcorn made its stop at East Kootenay Regional Hospital (EKRH) on Tuesday morning, marking the 34th year of BC Transplant's province-wide thank-you celebration.
On December 2, Heather, a organ donation recipient and registered organ donor, arrived at EKRH with festive packages of popcorn for the health care teams and the EKRH ER and ICU who help make organ donation and transplant possible.
Operation Popcorn is a long-running tradition for BC Transplant. More than 75 volunteers, including transplant recipients, living donors, and families of deceased donors, travel to hospitals across British Columbia each year to deliver popcorn and share their personal stories. For many hospital staff, the visit signals the start of the holiday season.
This year's Operation Popcorn campaign marked 11,000 organ transplants in BC Transplant said there were 1,617,709 British Columbians registered in the Organ Donor Registry as of early November.
There are currently 635 people in BC waiting for a transplant and there are 6,290 transplant survivors, according to BC Transplant.
Anyone interested in registering as an organ donor can do so online.
"Most British Columbians support organ donation, yet only one in three have actually registered their decision. We hope this email gives them the nudge they need to make it official -- and potentially save lives," Eric Lun, BC Transplant's executive director, said.
"For all of us, Operation Popcorn is a powerful reminder of the transformative impact of organ donation."