There continues to be an urgent need for organs among the Hispanic American population. The primary objective of our study is to increase the organ donation rate in the Hispanic American population in the County of Los Angeles by implementing programs that increase organ donation awareness and organ donor registrations.
The specific aims of the study are: 1. To implement and evaluate community-based awareness programs in the Hispanic American community that promote organ and tissue donation. The programs will consist of a multitude of avenues including a) paid television campaigns, b) delivery of factual information to high school students and their families, and c) working with and educating the clergy in places of worship who in turn would educate the congregation. 2. To implement and evaluate a facility-based registration approach for Hispanic Americans to register for organ and tissue donation. This approach will involve the development and use of a paper application form to be completed in a) the primary care clinics and b) places of worship. This approach will allow on-the-spot registration for organ donation. 3. To evaluate the effectiveness of the community-based awareness programs and the facility-based registration program in increasing the Hispanic American consent and conversion rates for organ donation at the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center. Our target population includes the residents residing in three zip codes known to have a predominantly Hispanic American population. The educational programs will be administered by OneLegacy, the nation's largest organ procurement organization in the United States. Each program will be evaluated for its effectiveness annually during the study period with baseline measures taken before program implementation. Methods of evaluation will include cross-sectional surveys at specified intervals;tracking of organ donation registration in several existing registries including the Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, and the Department of Motor Vehicles system. From these sources we will be able to measure the programs'effectiveness in awareness, registration and organ donation rates in the Hispanic American community in Los Angeles.
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