Group Expands Testing for Minority Marrow Donors

Organizers of a Lynwood-based program aimed at adding more ethnic minorities to the nation’s pool of potential bone marrow donors said Tuesday that they will extend their operations after testing 350 people in less than a year.

Founded in September by a coalition of community organizations in the city, Community 10,000 had originally hoped to register 10,000 members of minority groups by September, program coordinator Deborah Jackson said. The program offers free bone marrow testing to minorities under an agreement with the Red Cross.

Jackson said that although 350 people--about 300 of them minorities--took the 10-minute blood tests, only four were identified as potential donors. She added that minorities in need of bone marrow often find it harder than whites to find a donor because fewer than 20% of the nation’s 2.5-million registered donors are minorities.

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