General Motors plans to spend more than $1 million in the next six months to launch organ, bone marrow, and stem cell donor drives among the company's 395,000 employees, the Detroit News reported on May 9.
The initiative "may be unprecedented in American business," the newspaper said. The program is the brainchild of General Motors vice chairman Harry Pearce, who has been battling leukemia for two years and who, in the process, has undergone stem cell transplantation.
The newspaper reported that the initiative will likely have two parts: an educational component on the benefits of organ donation and blood drives to match bone marrow and stem cell donors to recipients. The latter component will be particularly geared toward African Americans and Hispanics, who tend to be underrepresented on national registries.
The chief executive officer of the Washington, D,C.,-based Marrow Foundation told the Detroit News that "there's nothing that's been done of the scale that GM is considering."
* Another story in mid May focused on increasing donor awareness. Toyota has named 100 high school "community scholars"-students who have distinguished themselves through dedication to community service. One of the students founded an Organ Donor Project and, during a three-day awareness activities program, 400 teachers and students agreed to become organ donors. The student also created a video and workbook on organ donation. "The program, which has spread to 17 schools…has helped thousands of teenagers become aware of the need for organ donations," Toyota said.
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See the story in the Detroit News at http://detnews.com/2000/autos/0005/09/a01-52245.htm.
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