The number of African-Americans willing to donate organs is critically low, say local donor organizations, and education is the key to turning that around.
''The number of African-Americans waiting for organ transplants is inconsistent with the population we serve,'' said Mark Sommerville, director of education and development for Ohio Valley LifeCenter. Twenty-six percent of all patients waiting for organ transplants in Greater Cincinnati are African-Americans.''
To raise awareness, Fifth Third Bank has awarded an $80,000 Jacob G. Schmidlapp grant to the Ohio Valley LifeCenter and the Life Connections of Ohio. The money is for education programs in minority communities.
Organizers hope they can convince minorities, particularly African-Americans, of the importance of organ donation.
For example, Mr. Sommerville said, African-Americans make up 12.5 percent of Greater Cincinnati's population. But, because blacks have a higher incidence of renal disorders than the general population, African-Americans account for 40 percent of local patients in need of kidneys, he said.
Nationally, the need is also acute. Statistics show African-Americans are four times more likely than whites to suffer kidney diseases, Mr. Sommerville said.
In the United States, the number of blacks willing to donate organs has been growing, but improvement requires continued education, said Dr. Roy First, medical director of the kidney transplant program at University Hospital.
Educational programs and the use of minorities to request that families consider organ donation have improved donation rates, Dr. First said.
He said a Howard University Hospital study found five reasons for the reluctance of some African-Americans to donate: a lack of awareness; religious beliefs; distrust of the medical profession; fear of premature declaration of death; and the desire to be sure organs will go to black recipients.
''Because of education, organ donations among African-Americans has begun to rise nationally,'' Mr. Sommerville said, adding that the organ donation rate among blacks increased 29 percent between 1988 and 1994 nationwide.
Last year, LifeCenter recovered organs from 50 donors; seven were African-American. Life Connection received organs from 27 donors; one was African-American.
''I think a major problem is misconceptions about organ donations. Some people feel that after an organ donation, a person cannot have an open-casket funeral,'' Mr. Sommerville said. ''That is incorrect. Some feel that the family has to pay for the operation to donate an organ, but that's not true. We pay for it.''
Mr. Sommerville said the education program could start in about two months. Specialists will coordinate programs through partnerships with churches, schools and community organizations.
LifeCenter and Life Connection helped 184 people receive organ transplants in 1996. There are 200 people on their waiting lists for organ transplants.
