Aboriginal Stem Cell Donors Urgently Needed

Aboriginal Stem Cell Donors Urgently Needed

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 14:43

 

 

Aboriginal nurses from across Canada are meeting in Edmonton tomorrow, as part of a strategy to increase the number of Aboriginal stem cell donors.

 

The conference is being put on by the Aboriginal Nurses’ Association of Canada, as well as the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network.

 

Audrey Lawrence, executive director of the nurses’ association, says non-Aboriginal Canadians can seek donors internationally, if there are none in the country.

 

Lawrence says that almost never works for Aboriginal people, which is why it’s important to increase the number of Aboriginal stem cell donors — especially as there are only about 2,200 potential Aboriginal donors.

 

“The populations… have indigenous roots in Canada, so their best matches would come from Canada,” she says.

 

Lawrence hopes the workshop will generate ideas on how to appropriately respectfully reach Aboriginal communities.

 

“Just saying, this is something that’s important, we want your support, we want your involvement, and we want your leadership in your communities to get these initiatives working,” Lawrence says.

 

She adds that the procedure is non-invasive: a mouth swab is used to collect the sample.

 

The idea behind the conference is that the nurses will return to their communities to continue raising awareness, and hopefully also recruit more donors.