Former nursing student helps conduct study on Hispanic organ donation
Andrea Bolt, TCU Daily, 8/28/09
In May, former nursing student Jennifer Zemplinski compiled a literature review about the study she helped conduct concerning the Hispanic community and the subject of organ donation, specifically, the lack of organ donation within the community.
Associate professor and Harris College Doctor of Nursing Practice Program director Dr. Kathy Baker compiled the study, "Hispanic Perspectives Regarding Organ Donation," to understand the Hispanic community's feelings and knowledge of organ donation in order to ultimately increase Hispanic American donor rates.
According to the study, more education and publicity is needed to circulate in the Hispanic community because the willingness to learn more about organ donation was prevalent. Also, many culturally-based fears and misconceptions were apparent in the participants.
Zemplinski wrote in her review that four main themes in the data were found to influence willingness to donate; awareness, knowledge level, emotions and values. Zemplinski included that several of the participants believed it was good to donate, however, donation conflicted with the beliefs their parents taught them, beliefs that the body must be buried whole or the belief that the church did not support donation. Zemplinski wrote that the study aimed to increase current knowledge about the Hispanic communities' thoughts and feelings regarding organ donation, realizing the vision of one participant who stated, "I hope Hispanics donate more."
The study's results have since been shown at the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honors Society Symposium and at the Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Zemplinski's extensive work and review also led to her being named a winner of the 2009 Harris College Research Symposium.
Dr. Susan Rugari, nursing assistant professor, said Zemplinski was an undergraduate during the time of the study, a fact that made an impact on all faculty involved.
Rugari, who assisted in data analysis and review, said Zemplinski did great work.
Hispanic Studies and Spanish professor David Bedford, who assisted in translation and gave input about Hispanic culture, said that Zemplinski was very important to the study.
Zemplinski is currently working at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth,
"I am working in a hospital and trying to become a competent nurse that can serve my families," Zemplinski wrote in an e-mail. She wrote that she may return to graduate school and continue the project then.
Currently Dr. Baker and Dr. Rugari are working together to produce a published manuscript of the study. They plan to submit the manuscript to the Journal of Transcultural Nursing, Dr. Rugari said.
After giving it "a little polish and a little enhancement," said Dr. Rugari, they hope to have the manuscript published possibly as soon as October.
Showing posts with label Latino Donors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latino Donors. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Hispanic blood donors being recruited
Center recruiting more Hispanic blood donors
Marissa Villa - Conexión
The potential that Hispanics have in saving lives may not be widely known, which could be why only a third of South Texas Blood and Tissue Center donors are Hispanic.
More than half of all Hispanics may carry what is known as the universal blood type, O negative, according to research by the University of Texas at Galveston. However, because of many misconceptions among Latinos, nationwide less than 6 percent of Hispanics who are eligible to donate actually do.
Because these numbers are so low, STBTC has launched a campaign called Mi Sangre Es Tu Sangre in order to recruit more Hispanics for blood donation.
“We really just want to open up the dialog (about donation),” said Aleida Fuentes, spokeswoman for STBTC.
In addition to a general marketing campaign that promotes unity, health and action among the Hispanic community, STBTC provides tools that help donors keep track of health information.
“We want to plant that seed that blood donation is needed,” Fuentes said.
The local center serves more than 100 hospitals and clinics in 43 counties, which are primarily Hispanic.
But the typical donors are repeat donors who started giving at a young age. So, while the Hispanic population grows, so does the need for blood. However, the number of donors tends to stay the same.
For each pint of blood that is donated, three lives have the potential of being impacted, Fuentes said.
Some recipients of blood donations include trauma victims, diabetics, premature infants and cancer patients.
However, because of misconceptions about blood donation many don't see the potential saving benefits.
“The biggest (myth) is ‘I'm going to gain weight if I donate blood,'” Fuentes said. “The other is ‘I'm going to get sick.'”
But like receiving blood, giving blood is safe, she said.
“Within our community there's a big mistrust of (health providers) in general,” Fuentes said.
Other myths that hold Hispanics back from donating blood also include “Since I have diabetes, I can't donate blood” and “I am too old to donate blood.”
Diabetics can donate as long as they haven't switched medication within the last two weeks. Donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health.
The campaign will aim to calm any doubts, and further health education, including cholesterol and hemoglobin level education.
Anyone interested in learning more about Mi Sangre Es Tu Sangre can log on to www.southtexasblood.org/MiSangreEsTuSangre.asp for more information.
Marissa Villa - Conexión
The potential that Hispanics have in saving lives may not be widely known, which could be why only a third of South Texas Blood and Tissue Center donors are Hispanic.
More than half of all Hispanics may carry what is known as the universal blood type, O negative, according to research by the University of Texas at Galveston. However, because of many misconceptions among Latinos, nationwide less than 6 percent of Hispanics who are eligible to donate actually do.
Because these numbers are so low, STBTC has launched a campaign called Mi Sangre Es Tu Sangre in order to recruit more Hispanics for blood donation.
“We really just want to open up the dialog (about donation),” said Aleida Fuentes, spokeswoman for STBTC.
In addition to a general marketing campaign that promotes unity, health and action among the Hispanic community, STBTC provides tools that help donors keep track of health information.
“We want to plant that seed that blood donation is needed,” Fuentes said.
The local center serves more than 100 hospitals and clinics in 43 counties, which are primarily Hispanic.
But the typical donors are repeat donors who started giving at a young age. So, while the Hispanic population grows, so does the need for blood. However, the number of donors tends to stay the same.
For each pint of blood that is donated, three lives have the potential of being impacted, Fuentes said.
Some recipients of blood donations include trauma victims, diabetics, premature infants and cancer patients.
However, because of misconceptions about blood donation many don't see the potential saving benefits.
“The biggest (myth) is ‘I'm going to gain weight if I donate blood,'” Fuentes said. “The other is ‘I'm going to get sick.'”
But like receiving blood, giving blood is safe, she said.
“Within our community there's a big mistrust of (health providers) in general,” Fuentes said.
Other myths that hold Hispanics back from donating blood also include “Since I have diabetes, I can't donate blood” and “I am too old to donate blood.”
Diabetics can donate as long as they haven't switched medication within the last two weeks. Donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health.
The campaign will aim to calm any doubts, and further health education, including cholesterol and hemoglobin level education.
Anyone interested in learning more about Mi Sangre Es Tu Sangre can log on to www.southtexasblood.org/MiSangreEsTuSangre.asp for more information.
Latino bone marrow donors wanted
Donor program reaching out to Latino community
By J.M. Brown Correspondent 01/22/2009
The Alameda-based Asian American Donor Program is expanding its outreach to the Latino community in order to give Hispanic people greater access to bone marrow matches.
The organization, which was founded 20 years ago to encourage more Asian Americans to register on the national bone marrow database, decided to create a Latino Outreach Program after 24-year-old leukemia patient Jose Ochoa contacted the group for help in August. The Asian American Donor Program had helped other Latino patients in the past, but realized a need to serve the nation's growing Hispanic population.
Patients needing bone marrow transplants can only be matched with donors of the same or similar ethnic makeup, creating a need for ethnic minorities and multi-ethnic people to donate. As of September, only 5.3 percent of donors on the national registry identified as people of Hispanic origin, compared to 73 percent Caucasian.
To celebrate the public service aspect of Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama, the Asian American Donor Program hosted donor drives in Oakland.
Ramona Garcia, who the group recently hired to conduct its Latino Outreach Program, was at the drives to help Latinos understand why their help is so critical.
There are several cultural barriers to getting more Latino people to donate, Garcia said. There is some distrust of medical providers and concern among undocumented donors that providing
identification information may lead trouble with authorities.
"There area lot of myths people have about surgery "... because people have their own ways of remedy and illness and solutions to it," Garcia said. "It's really about bringing awareness to the community and informing people." Stem cells can be used to treat 167 kinds of blood diseases, from leukemia to lymphoma. Registering on the donor list requires filling out a medical survey and taking four cheek swabs. Donors are asked to extract stem cells only if there is a match. The recipient's health insurance or the national donor program will cover the cost of the procedure.
For information, contact Garcia at the AADP at 800-593-6667, visit the center at 2169 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, or log on to www.aadp.org.
Contact J.M. Brown at jammbrow@yahoo.com.
By J.M. Brown Correspondent 01/22/2009
The Alameda-based Asian American Donor Program is expanding its outreach to the Latino community in order to give Hispanic people greater access to bone marrow matches.
The organization, which was founded 20 years ago to encourage more Asian Americans to register on the national bone marrow database, decided to create a Latino Outreach Program after 24-year-old leukemia patient Jose Ochoa contacted the group for help in August. The Asian American Donor Program had helped other Latino patients in the past, but realized a need to serve the nation's growing Hispanic population.
Patients needing bone marrow transplants can only be matched with donors of the same or similar ethnic makeup, creating a need for ethnic minorities and multi-ethnic people to donate. As of September, only 5.3 percent of donors on the national registry identified as people of Hispanic origin, compared to 73 percent Caucasian.
To celebrate the public service aspect of Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama, the Asian American Donor Program hosted donor drives in Oakland.
Ramona Garcia, who the group recently hired to conduct its Latino Outreach Program, was at the drives to help Latinos understand why their help is so critical.
There are several cultural barriers to getting more Latino people to donate, Garcia said. There is some distrust of medical providers and concern among undocumented donors that providing
identification information may lead trouble with authorities.
"There area lot of myths people have about surgery "... because people have their own ways of remedy and illness and solutions to it," Garcia said. "It's really about bringing awareness to the community and informing people." Stem cells can be used to treat 167 kinds of blood diseases, from leukemia to lymphoma. Registering on the donor list requires filling out a medical survey and taking four cheek swabs. Donors are asked to extract stem cells only if there is a match. The recipient's health insurance or the national donor program will cover the cost of the procedure.
For information, contact Garcia at the AADP at 800-593-6667, visit the center at 2169 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, or log on to www.aadp.org.
Contact J.M. Brown at jammbrow@yahoo.com.
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