Expanding minority organ donation

The transplant team at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Norton Thoracic Institute has urged Hispanics and other minority groups to consider being organ, eye and tissue donors to expand the donor pool.

Living kidney donations have remained a top priority, as Hispanics across the U.S. and in the Southwest have one of the lowest rates of living kidney donations. One donor can provide lifesaving organs to up to eight people.

It is vital to diversify the donor pool, especially among minority communities that have disproportionately high blood pressure, higher rates of diabetes and heart disease.

Gabriel Quiroz, Kidney Transplant Coordinator at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Norton Thoracic Institute, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the benefits of diversifying the donor pool.