2 Hospitals Offer Free Bone Marrow Testing

In an effort to increase the numbers of people registered to be donors, Kaiser Permanente will offer free bone marrow testing at two Valley hospitals this week.

Normally, participants are charged from $20 to $60 to be tested and listed in the American Red Cross’ National Marrow Donor Program registry, said Cynthia Harding, a Kaiser spokeswoman.

“We don’t do this very often, but we wanted to be sure this is available to the general public,” Harding said. “And I think it’s encouraging people to come out in greater numbers.”

At Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, testing will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the North 2 Building, Rooms C through E, at 8250 Woodman Ave.

At Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills, testing will be done from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday in the Lower Level Rooms 1 through 3 in Entrance 4, at 5601 De Soto Ave.

After consenting to be listed in the registry, participants will give a small amount of blood to determine marrow type. The test should take about 15 minutes.

Potential donors who are found to be a match for someone in need of a transfusion can decide whether to actually donate the marrow, Harding said.

“I’ve been told that people generally do go through with it,” she said.

Donating bone marrow is usually an outpatient procedure, or at most requires an overnight stay. Donors experience temporary discomfort in the area from which the marrow was taken, usually the hip or back.

Harding said many of the 2,000 people in the nation waiting for a match are minorities, and so there is a special need for Asians, Latinos and African Americans to register.