It’s not easy being a Match maker!

At any given time, 6,000 critically ill people throughout the world search the “Be The Match” Registry for a donor

match—that match could be you.

Join the “Be The Match” Registry and participate in the District-sponsored bone marrow donor drive conducted by

City of Hope. The entire registration and sample tissue process takes less than 15 minutes.

Employees in Coachella, Palm Desert, West Shores and all WRPs are encouraged to participate, including your friends and family in the community. Employees should work with their supervisors to coordinate timing for donations. The District allows you to participate and donate on company

time, including your drive to and from Palm Desert.

To sign up, send anyone in HR an Email with your name and time you plan to participate in the drive.

Marrow Donor Drive

Wednesday, June 13

Noon to 5:00 pm

Palm Desert Administration

Training Rooms

For more information contact

Gabino Cabanilla, ext. 2243

Register for the Marrow Donor Drive:

The Chance of a Lifetime…

The District is partnering with Be The Match Registry at City of Hope

to register bone marrow donors. Our primary objective for the drive

is to register donors to find a suitable match for Steve Robbins, our

General Manager-Chief Engineer. As you all know, Steve is undergoing

chemotherapy at City of Hope due to leukemia. Steve’s brother was

tested and was not an acceptable match for his bone marrow

transplant. So, we are hopeful that many of you will consider

registering and, perhaps, one of you may be an acceptable match

for Steve.

It’s about helping patients Be The Match Registry is the largest, most diverse marrow and blood stem cell registry in the world—facilitating

critically needed transplants for patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases across the country.

Be The Match will register potential donors, perform testing and enter you into the national donor registry.

The Registry has been helping patients receive transplants for more than 25 years.

Of the 10 million donors, less than half are minority donors. Because tissue types are inherited, patients are

most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. This means that minorities have a lesser chance of

finding a bone marrow match. There is a great need to add Hispanics, American Indians, African-Americans,

Asians and persons of one or more ethnic or racial background.

By becoming a registered donor, you may be the right match for a child

in Florida, a mother in Costa Rica or even your next door neighbor.

If more minorities became bone marrow matches, it would create a

more diverse registry by adding new tissue types that are currently not

available and thereby increasing the chances of all patients in need of

marrow transplants.

It’s about finding a match Be The Match offers people the unique opportunity to help a patient by donating bone marrow. For our donor

drive, our primary objective is to educate the public about the need for more potential marrow donors and to

find a suitable match for patients, like Steve. You will be entered into the Be The Match Registry and perhaps one

day be called upon to help save another person’s life. Thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia

and lymphoma, sickle cell and other life-threatening diseases depend on Be The Match Registry to find a match.

Marrow Donor Drive

When: Wednesday, June 13

Time: Noon to 5:00 p.m.

Where: Training Rooms

Palm Desert Admin

At any given time,

6,000 critically ill people

throughout the world

search the registry for a

donor match—that match

could be you.

It’s about being a part of the solution Step 1. Join the Be The Match Registry

To sign up for the District-sponsored donor drive, send HR an Email

with your name and preferred time to donate. The drive will be

conducted by the City of Hope on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

from Noon to 5:00 p.m. in the Palm Desert Administration Training

Rooms. The entire process takes less than 15 minutes. At the drive,

you will provide your contact information, complete a brief health

questionnaire and sign a consent form. Employees in Coachella, Palm Desert, West Shores and all

WRPs are encouraged to participate, including your friends and family in the community.

Employees should work with their supervisors to coordinate the timing for donations.

After registration, the Be The Match Community Outreach Specialist will ask you to provide a sample of your

DNA by swabbing the inside of your mouth to obtain tissue cells for testing. The Registry will categorize your

sample and enter it into the worldwide database. Any information you provide the City of Hope for the

Registry, as well as the District, during this donor drive is protected health information.

Step 2. Get Ready to Donate

If you match a patient, the Registry will contact and ask you about your

health and schedule more testing to ensure you are the best match for

the patient in need.

Step 3. Donate Marrow

The patient’s doctor requests one of two types of donation, depending on what is best for the patient. The most

common method of donation is a nonsurgical procedure that takes place at a blood center or outpatient

hospital unit. For five days leading up to donation, you will be given injections of a drug called filgrastim to

increase the number of blood-forming cells in your bloodstream. Your blood is then removed through a needle

in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells or Peripheral Blood Stem

Cells (PBSC). The remaining blood is returned to you through the other arm. Your blood-forming cells are back

to their normal levels within four to six weeks.

The second type of marrow collection is a surgical outpatient procedure that takes place in a hospital while

you’re under anesthesia. Doctors use a needle to withdraw liquid marrow from the back of your pelvic bone.

Step 4: Recovery and Follow-Up

Recovery times vary depending on the individual and type of donation. Most donors are able to return to work,

school and other activities within one to 7 days after donation. The Registry will follow-up with you until you

are able to resume normal activity.

Whether you are a match or not one at this time, your registration with Be The Match is the first step in

narrowing the gap to find a suitable blood marrow donor for a family member or someone living in another

country. You can become part of the solution in helping patients find a match. If you are identified as a matched

donor, you may be the only person who can provide lifesaving marrow to that one person. So, consider

donating on Wednesday, June 13, from Noon to 5:00 p.m. and sign up now. We all have the power within

us to help and the power to give hope.

About 70% of patients in

need of a transplant do not

have a matching donor

in their family.

The District allows you

to participate and donate

on company time. This

includes your driving time to

the donor drive. You do not

use your sick leave or

vacation time to participate.