Health & Wellness Issues concerning the well-being of the African American community , > ... File photo In marly 1998 blacks represented 917 of the 1,432 North Carolinians awaiting a kidney. ?r V More black organ donors needed, doctors say By BETTINA SEBASTIAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DURHAM - Three days a week for the past seven years, all of Veronica Herring's blood was siphoned from her body, cleansed in a fake kidney and pumped back into her bloodstream. Herring, 34, of Mebane had been poked with needles so many times that she wore a permanent catheter in her chest so nurses could hook the tubes directly. That piuccuuic CVC11 WUIC 111111, UUt'lUIS wanted to move the catheter to her thigh. For 31/2 years, Herring, whose , kidneys failed after she was diag nosed in 1992 with lupus, also toted around a cell phone and pager, hoping for the call that would tell her doctors had found a healthy kidney to transplant. Often it seemed the call never would come. For Herring, it finally did. On July 10 she got a new kidney. * But for many blacks like Her ring, the wait can be much logger. In kidney transplants, a perfect match is everything. Blood and antigen types must match to ensure the best chance for survival, and race plays an important role in matching donor to recipient. With the right match, kidney recipients stand a 90 percent chance of sur vival, according to Duke Universi ty Medical Center statistics. Yet, in t-eoruary iyvo, niacKs represented 917 of the 1,432 North Carolinians awaiting a kidney 64 percent - while the state's popula tion is only120 percent black. Moreover, blacks are tradition ally underrepresented among kid ney doiffors The United Network for Organ Sharing says that while blacks make up 35 percent of the people in the United States need ing kidney transplants, only 11 percent of the kidney donors are black. That means there are far fewer kidneys available with blood and antigen types that match those of blacks needing new kidneys. "There need to be more black donors," said Dr. Randal Bollinger, chief of general surgery and head of Duke's transplanta tion program. Sarah Springs, who is black and the community affairs coordi nator for the Carolina Organ Pro curement Agency - one of three such agencies in North Carolina - said there are many reasons why black people cannot or won't donate organs, but their reluctance can be traced to lack of informa tion. "African Americans are not aware that we make up the majori ty of the need for those kidneys." she said. "The reality is there's probably not a whole lot of faith in medi cine within the African American community," said Dr. Duane Davis, cardiothoracic surgeon and lung transplant program coordina tor at Duke. Springs said some people fear that by designating themselves as donors, doctors will make less of an effort to keep them,alive. But she said doctors only can use organs from people who are brain dead with functioning organs. After all measures to save a person's life have been exhausted, a neurologist examines the patient twice - six hours apart - to deter mine whether brain death has occurred. . "So it's absolutely wrong for someone to say, 'Oh, he has a gun shot wound to the head; he'll never survive,"'said Dr. Robert Harland, Duke's former director of abdomi nal transplant. "That person may not be brain dead, and even a neu rologist couldn't make that deci sion based on one exam. "And by not actively treating that patient, we are not jetting the family decide whether or not the patient should be an organ donor," Harland said. Some blacks fear their organs will go to rich white people rather than black people, but of every 10 black people who get new organs, nine" come from white donors, UNOS said. "A perfect match overrides everything for kidneys," Bollinger said. "A perfect match is crucial for long-term outcome." Moreover, families may specify the organ recipient, so long as that person is a match. Designating a recipient can cut the waiting peri od for an organ by up to eight vears. * Springs said she tries to get her grassroots message across to churchgoers about the need for black donors, since religion plays such a strong role in the black community. "If you ask in a black church who knows somebody on dialysis, every, time you'll see at least two or three hands go up," said Springs. Alice Hughley, assistant princi pal at West Millbrook High School, had just returned from a meeting in 1997 on organ and tis sue donation when she learned her 21 -year-old son, Carey Hughley III, had been shot in the head. She and her husband, Carey Hughley II, arrived at their son's bedside to learn he was brain-dead. For seven hours the Hughleys remained at their son's side, saying goodbye. "1 knew that the agency would come in and ask us about dona tion. but it doesn't make it any eas ier," Hughley said. Their daughter Alicia said she knew her brother wanted to be a donor, so the family respected his wishes. But what helped them decide was knowing a woman at their church who ch>ldren and their families throughout the community. "Ofte* parents feel a little overwhelmed when their child becomes ndc/l'm here to take care of the children, but just as importantly 1 to help their parents know that things can get better." jt)r. Maroela Heinrich and the whole Aegis-Westgate team. Working together to give you our best. Aegis Family Health Center-Westgate 3746 Vest Mill Road ' ' Westgate Executive Center Winston-Salem, NC 27106 ?v* Pediatrics Mark A. Pashayan, MD Marcela I. Heinrkh, MD Susan Y. Hunsinger, MD Rebecca Y. VJeinshilboum, DO 336-774-0710 Call to schedule an appointment Visit our Web site at www.ae9isfhc.com Agis. R}' FAMILY HEALTH CENTERS #YlV Bringing you the resources of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center K.