Towards a more inclusive unrelated donor registry

Why We Swab: A library of stories in stem cell donation

“…Multiple stories can be paired together to build recruitment campaigns, including those featuring: storytellers from the same racial/ethnic group to support efforts to recruit donors from those demographics; patients currently searching for a match to showcase multiple examples of patients in need; donors discussing their donation experiences to highlight the safety of the procedure from multiple perspectives; and holiday-specific stories (e.g., sharing the perspectives of mothers of stem cell donors/recipients/ patients in need during Mother's Day, or stories related to the theme of gift-giving during the December holiday season). Stories can also highlight donors from specific demographic groups who may face barriers to donation and/or may not be aware of their eligibility as donors (e.g., gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men 64 ). In addition to being shared in written format, Why We Swab supports a network of storytellers who are passionate about donor recruitment and who can be approached to develop other multimedia content to support recruitment efforts.…”

Development and evaluation of checklists to support the recruitment of committed hematopoietic stem cell donors

“…The checklists also reminded recruiters to approach donors from needed demographic groups (i.e., young, male, from a diversity of ancestral backgrounds), and reviewed material covered in the recruiter training program. Furthermore, they guided recruiters to be inclusive in their recruitment practices, and to be aware that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are eligible to register as stem cell donors 29 . Topics included: stem cell drive setup; prescreening; redirecting ineligible donors (e.g., due to older age) and lower priority donors (e.g., parous women 7,13,30 ) to help in other ways; informed consent; registration; tissue sample collection; reconciliation; and takedown of drive and post‐event.…”

“…Furthermore, they guided recruiters to be inclusive in their recruitment practices, and to be aware that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are eligible to register as stem cell donors. 29 Topics included: stem cell drive setup; prescreening; redirecting ineligible donors (e.g., due to older age) and lower priority donors (e.g., parous women 7,13,30 ) to help in other ways; informed consent; registration; tissue sample collection; reconciliation; and takedown of drive and post-event. The checklists were implemented by the Canadian donor recruitment organization Stem Cell Club 27 (stemcellclub.ca), which runs stem cell drives as previously described 10 in cities across Canada.…”