August is Minority Donor Awareness Month* So what does this even mean and why do we as health care providers care? Did you know that minorities constitute 56% of all people on a donor list? From the organdonor.gov website: "Although organs are not matched according to race/ethnicity, and people of different races frequently match one another, all individuals waiting for an organ transplant will have a better chance of receiving one if there are large numbers of donors from their racial/ethnic background. This is because compatible blood types and tissue markers—critical qualities for donor/recipient matching—are more likely to be found among members of the same ethnicity. A greater diversity of donors may potentially increase access to transplantation for everyone." SO, How can we help? It goes without saying that the #1 way to help is to Sign up as an Organ Donor! Links are provided below that give recommendations on how to promote awareness and distribute important information. For more information about Minority Donor Awareness: organdonor.gov/awarenessweek/awarenessweek.html Other suggestions of how to help: organdonor.gov/howhelp/index.html List of Nationwide events: organdonorawareness.org/organ_donor_events.html List of Organ Procurement Organizations by State: organdonor.gov/materialsresources/materialsopolist.html
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:09:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015