
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 16, 1994                   TAG: 9408160083
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BLACK ORGAN DONORS HARD TO COME BY

NORFOLK - There is a great need among black people for transplant organs, but organ sharing officials say many blacks never consider becoming donors.

Religious beliefs, customs, traditions and even mistrust of the mostly white medical establishment often discourage blacks from becoming donors, people familiar with organ donation say.

``You're talking about culture,'' said William A. Lassiter, a black man who waited in intensive care for nine months to receive a heart transplant, more than twice the normal wait.

``There are those who believe that when you are born with organs, when you leave this earth, those organs should go right with you. That's a hard thing to change in the mind of the black community.''

Nationwide last year, blacks accounted for 11.4 percent of all donations, said Joel Newman, a spokesman for the Richmond-based United Network for Organ Sharing. That's roughly equivalent with blacks' representation in the U.S. population as a whole, he said.

The problem is that the number of blacks awaiting transplants is proportionately higher, Newman said. Of about 35,000 people nationwide awaiting transplants, 37 percent are black. That's largely because of the high incidence among blacks of hypertension and diabetes, which can cause kidney malfunction, Newman said.

``In order to even keep pace, in theory, there would have to be a higher proportion of black donors,'' Newman said.

Because transplants are more likely to succeed if the donor and recipient are of the same racial and ethnic background, the shortage of black donors leaves blacks waiting perhaps twice as long as whites for kidney transplants, Newman said. Blacks also tend to wait longer for heart, liver and bone marrow transplants, he said.

But Newman said the situation is improving. In 1988, 8.8 percent of donors were black, he said. More Hispanics also are becoming donors, he said. Six years ago, 6 percent of donors were Hispanic, compared with 8.2 percent in 1993.

A 177-member Black Task Force has been mobilizing an organ donor awareness campaign throughout eastern Virginia since February.

Led by Baxter Harrington of LifeNet Transplant Services in Virginia Beach, the campaign is blitzing black schools, colleges, churches, civic groups and community events. A similar program for central Virginia began 31/2 years ago.

by CNB