I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on July 31, 2010, 07:22:32 PM
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Organ donations by the numbers
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, July 31, 2010
Aug. 1 is National Minority Donor Day, established to encourage minorities to donate at rates that reflect their numbers waiting on the list. Organs are matched with medical compatibility, specifically kidneys. Kidney transplants have a better success rate if the organ donor is the same ethnicity.
107,000
People awaiting organs in the United States
85,000
Awaiting kidney transplants
10,000+
Texans awaiting organ transplants
8,000
Texans needing kidneys
Awaiting kidneys in Texas
24% African-American
51% Hispanic
Deceased Texas organ donors
15% African-American
31% Hispanic
• The Southwest Transplant Alliance says the number of minority organ donations is increasing. In the first quarter of this year, 70 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 69 percent of Hispanics and 65 percent of African-Americans approached with donation requests agreed to donate a loved one's organs.
• Register to be a donor at www.donatelifetexas.org or at a Department of Public Safety office. About 60,000 people register each month.
• Pam Silvestri, spokeswoman for the Southwest Transplant Alliance, urges registration because it serves as consent even if family members would prefer not to donate their deceased loved one's organs.
SOURCE: Southwest Transplant Alliance
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-organdonorbox_31met.ART.State.Edition1.3605678.html