New Partnership will Support and Strengthen Aboriginal Involvement for Stem
Cell Donors
The theme for this year's awareness week was Partners Uniting Lives to highlight the critical importance of partnerships, like the one we entered into with the Aboriginal Nurses Association of
The event was filled with performances by a number of Aboriginal groups who put on an incredible display for employees and special guests. The performances included Traditional Honour singers, a Hoop Dance performed by
"It is through partnerships like this that we give patients a better chance at finding a stem cell match," says
Right now, fewer than 30 per cent of Canadians who need stem cell transplants are able to find a match within their own families. The rest rely on the generosity of a donor who has volunteered to give stem cells to anyone in need.
One of the greatest barriers the organization faces is increasing the diversity of registrants - the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network is currently made up of 82 per cent Caucasian donors.
"Only 18 per cent of our donors are from ethnically diverse communities, yet of the 817 Canadian patients seeking an unrelated stem cell donor, 28 per cent of these patients are diverse," says Jennifer. "The need still far outweighs the available donor supply." Often, the best chance of finding a matched donor comes from within the patient's own ethnic community. Even though last year OneMatch surpassed their recruitment targets by 167 per cent and now have approximately 250,000 volunteer donors, Aboriginal people make up only 0.9 per cent of the donor base.
"Right now, there are Aboriginal patients in
The partnership with the Aboriginal Nurses Association of
For further information: Audrey Lawrence, Executive Director, (613) 724-4677x 23, [email protected]
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