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Community education and empowerment key to increased minority donation rates
ELSEVIER
Community Education and Empowerment Key to Increased Minority Donation Rates P. Miles and C.O. Calender
0
VER the past several years, minority organ donation rates have increased. Although reasons for the increase vary, one of the most prevalent reasons is the effectiveness of minority community education and empowerment efforts. Here we look closely at some of these empowering efforts. COMMUNITY
INVPLVEMENT
Community participation in the planning stages and the implementation of activities within their communities is very important. Because the make-up of each community may be different, what may be effective in one community may not be effective in another. This is why encouraging the community to become involved from the very beginning is imperative. Who is the community? It is persons who reside in a certain locality. They may represent the religious sector, corporate entities, media, or they may be a lay person who is committed to the mission of increasing awareness regarding the need for increased participation in transplant-related activities. As a group, creative strategic plans are developed to most effectively impact the community with the message of increasing the number of minority donors. The plans may embody coordinating and participating in events that create high visibility such as health fairs, parades, prayer breakfasts, expos, neighborhood block parties, health summits, town hall meetings, etc. FACE-TO-FACE
PRESENTATIONS
Schools and social, civic, and religious organizational meetings provide ideal settings for speaker presentations. Health care providers are available to provide the necessary medical expertise. However, personal testimonials from transplant recipients, donor family members, and transplant candidates add credibility to the fact that transplantation can give recipients a second chance at life. In addition, donor family members can attest that while dealing with the grief of a loved one, heart felt warmth resulted from knowing that they enhanced someone’s life through their loved ones’ donation. Presentations are given no matter how large or small the number of individuals in the audience. However, smaller audiences provide greater opportunities for question and answer periods.
COLLABORATION
Collaborating with religious, social, and civic community groups who support and share the mission of increasing donation and transplant awareness is vital. Collaborative organizations include organ procurement organizations, TRIO, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the National Medical Association, the American Medical Association, churches, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as federal agencies and local health departments. These collaborative efforts are mutually beneficial. To date, National MQTTEP sites have collaborated with more than 100 organizations. MEDIA
PROMOTION
The media should always be used to promote awareness by highlighting special events in the transplant arena such as National Organ Tissue Donor Awareness Week, National Minority Donor Awareness Day, or Donor Sabbath. In addition, key messages to the public should evolve around the successes of transplantation, profiling persons who are on the waiting list and reasons why persons have to wait sometimes many months for a transplant. Utilizing radio, television, and print media, National MOTTEP generated more than 33 million media impressions during the first year of the grant. During the second year, more than 1.5 billion media impressions were generated across the country. INFORMATION
DISSEMINATION
Providing culturally sensitive information that the various ethnic groups can easily understand is crucial. Often, this information should be developed in a particular group’s ethnic language. Also, sensitivity means that wording that may be offensive to the target group should be avoided. If photos are used for graphic purposes, they should picture ethnically similar persons within the targeted minority group. EVALUATION
To measure awareness before and after presentations and the effectiveness of presentations, pre- and post-surveys are administered. Several areas are evaluated: (1) thoughts on
PII s0041-1345(97)01100-7
0 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
3756
Transplantation
0041-1345/97/$17.QO
Proceedings,
29, 3756-3757
(1997)
INCREASED
MINORITY
DONATION
RATES
organ/tissue donation-has the individual thought about or discussed organ/tissue donation before the presentation; (2) beliefs about organ/tissue; (3) knowledge about the disproportionate rate of kidney disease; (4) future plans-if the individual has not previously signed a donor card or held a family discussion, are there plans to do so because of the presentation. These combined efforts nationally have resulted in increased donations. According to the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Registry, donations increased by 29% within the African-American population between 1988 and
3757
1994, 32% in the Hispanic/Latin0 population, and more than doubled to 1.8% in the Asian population. In conclusion, minorities constitute nearly half the national transplant waiting list. The impact of these efforts has produced tremendous results. Therefore, it is critical that we continue to empower all communities to become involved from the very beginning. They must be empowered to take responsibility for playing a major role in the solution to the organ/tissue donor shortage. These efforts must continue to be used in all minority populations, therefore, increasing the minority donor pool, which is a mandatory component to help solve the critical donor shortage.
Community Education and Empowerment Key to Increased Minority Donation Rates P. Miles and C.O. Calender
0
VER the past several years, minority organ donation rates have increased. Although reasons for the increase vary, one of the most prevalent reasons is the effectiveness of minority community education and empowerment efforts. Here we look closely at some of these empowering efforts. COMMUNITY
INVPLVEMENT
Community participation in the planning stages and the implementation of activities within their communities is very important. Because the make-up of each community may be different, what may be effective in one community may not be effective in another. This is why encouraging the community to become involved from the very beginning is imperative. Who is the community? It is persons who reside in a certain locality. They may represent the religious sector, corporate entities, media, or they may be a lay person who is committed to the mission of increasing awareness regarding the need for increased participation in transplant-related activities. As a group, creative strategic plans are developed to most effectively impact the community with the message of increasing the number of minority donors. The plans may embody coordinating and participating in events that create high visibility such as health fairs, parades, prayer breakfasts, expos, neighborhood block parties, health summits, town hall meetings, etc. FACE-TO-FACE
PRESENTATIONS
Schools and social, civic, and religious organizational meetings provide ideal settings for speaker presentations. Health care providers are available to provide the necessary medical expertise. However, personal testimonials from transplant recipients, donor family members, and transplant candidates add credibility to the fact that transplantation can give recipients a second chance at life. In addition, donor family members can attest that while dealing with the grief of a loved one, heart felt warmth resulted from knowing that they enhanced someone’s life through their loved ones’ donation. Presentations are given no matter how large or small the number of individuals in the audience. However, smaller audiences provide greater opportunities for question and answer periods.
COLLABORATION
Collaborating with religious, social, and civic community groups who support and share the mission of increasing donation and transplant awareness is vital. Collaborative organizations include organ procurement organizations, TRIO, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the National Medical Association, the American Medical Association, churches, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as federal agencies and local health departments. These collaborative efforts are mutually beneficial. To date, National MQTTEP sites have collaborated with more than 100 organizations. MEDIA
PROMOTION
The media should always be used to promote awareness by highlighting special events in the transplant arena such as National Organ Tissue Donor Awareness Week, National Minority Donor Awareness Day, or Donor Sabbath. In addition, key messages to the public should evolve around the successes of transplantation, profiling persons who are on the waiting list and reasons why persons have to wait sometimes many months for a transplant. Utilizing radio, television, and print media, National MOTTEP generated more than 33 million media impressions during the first year of the grant. During the second year, more than 1.5 billion media impressions were generated across the country. INFORMATION
DISSEMINATION
Providing culturally sensitive information that the various ethnic groups can easily understand is crucial. Often, this information should be developed in a particular group’s ethnic language. Also, sensitivity means that wording that may be offensive to the target group should be avoided. If photos are used for graphic purposes, they should picture ethnically similar persons within the targeted minority group. EVALUATION
To measure awareness before and after presentations and the effectiveness of presentations, pre- and post-surveys are administered. Several areas are evaluated: (1) thoughts on
PII s0041-1345(97)01100-7
0 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
3756
Transplantation
0041-1345/97/$17.QO
Proceedings,
29, 3756-3757
(1997)
INCREASED
MINORITY
DONATION
RATES
organ/tissue donation-has the individual thought about or discussed organ/tissue donation before the presentation; (2) beliefs about organ/tissue; (3) knowledge about the disproportionate rate of kidney disease; (4) future plans-if the individual has not previously signed a donor card or held a family discussion, are there plans to do so because of the presentation. These combined efforts nationally have resulted in increased donations. According to the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Registry, donations increased by 29% within the African-American population between 1988 and
3757
1994, 32% in the Hispanic/Latin0 population, and more than doubled to 1.8% in the Asian population. In conclusion, minorities constitute nearly half the national transplant waiting list. The impact of these efforts has produced tremendous results. Therefore, it is critical that we continue to empower all communities to become involved from the very beginning. They must be empowered to take responsibility for playing a major role in the solution to the organ/tissue donor shortage. These efforts must continue to be used in all minority populations, therefore, increasing the minority donor pool, which is a mandatory component to help solve the critical donor shortage.