Dialysis Access: What Every Patient Should Know
In this presentation you will learn about: 1) the different types of access for dialysis, 2) how to examine and monitor your access and 3) why it is important to avoid catheters.
Public Health Service Guidelines on Organ Donation for HIV, HBV, HCV and Transplant Recipient Monitoring
The U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) recently released the PHS Guideline for Solid Organ Donor Assessment for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection and Transplant Recipient Monitoring. This document updates existing PHS guidance pertaining to solid organ donors and recipients and testing for HIV, HBV, and HCV in addition to informed consent and appropriately communicating the risk of disease transmission to transplant candidates. The revised guideline reflects substantial advances in testing technology and treatment that improve patient safety. Key things for you to know: Risk of infection due to transplant is very low. [...]
Care Coordination Fixes One of the Biggest Flaws in the American Health Care System
By Gloria Rohrer, DPC Patient Ambassador As a dialysis patient, it has become clear to me that one of the biggest flaws in the American health care system is the disjointed way care is often provided to patients. If patients have chronic conditions alongside other health complications, it can be exceedingly difficult to navigate the different doctors and hospitals we need in order to receive proper care. When seeing so many different doctors at various clinics and hospitals, patients like me can suffer adverse effects if all our treatments are not designed to address our full medical history, rather than a [...]
Is a Transplant Right for Me?
During this webinar You will learn about 1) The risks vs benefits of a transplant, 2) The choice of a deceased vs living donor, 3) How to find a living donor, and 4) Tips from patients’ own transplant experiences.
Advancing Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients: An Update
By Jackson Williams, Vice President of Public Policy, Dialysis Patient Citizens Efforts to modernize the delivery of quality care to dialysis patients reach several milestones in 2020: Medicare’s first care coordination program for kidney care, the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model, expires at the end of this year; providers have been invited to participate in a new program, the Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting Model; end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients will, in October, for the first time have access to their choice of Medicare Advantage plans effective January 1, 2021; and a new bill is being introduced in Congress to create another integrated [...]
Treatment of Hyperkalemia in Dialysis Patients
Hyperkalemia is a potentially life-threatening electrolyte disorder and is more often seen in people who have End Stage Kidney Disease than the general public. For people WITHOUT kidney failure, potassium, an important mineral within the body, helps regulate fluid balance, muscle contractions and nerve signals. When people eat more potassium than their body needs, the kidneys filter and excrete out any extra through the urine. However, when the kidneys do not work, potassium can build up in the blood and cause hyperkalemia/high potassium. You can learn more about foods high in potassium and hyperkalemia in Issue 10 of our patient newsletter, [...]
Reflections from 45 Years on Dialysis
By Jack Reynolds, DPC Board Member I have survived on in-center hemodialysis for the last 45 years. I have also received Medicare for all those years to pay for most of my dialysis and other medical needs. I currently reside outside the village of Palmyra, Iowa. One of the first group of Patient Ambassadors to advocate in Washington, D.C. in 2005, I have visited Capitol Hill many times since. Because of the cost, time and effort it takes to keep a kidney patient healthy, I feel that it is important to be aware of issues and legislation that can impact our [...]
The COVID-19 Explosion—Lessons from New York—What Kidney Patients Should Know
During this webinar you will learn the latest on: 1) What kidney patients need to do (dialysis & transplant), 2) What dialysis facilities are doing and 3) What we can learn from New York’s COVID-19 experience.
COVID-19 Resources for Dialysis Patients
Updated May 6, 2020 Earlier this month the President signed the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” which is a bill that will increase funding to several federal programs in response to the COVID-19 viral outbreak. The bill aids Americans in the areas of healthcare (including COVID-19 testing), nutrition, paid sick leave, unemployment, family and medical leave, and more. Below is a list of resources for dialysis patients to help them get additional support during the COVID-19 viral outbreak and beyond. Resource topics include: disability, financial assistance, nutrition, healthcare, housing and utilities, jobs, transportation, women and children, daily living, and staying [...]
Dialysis–A Gift for Me
Irwin Dunsky By Irwin Dunsky I found out my kidneys were disintegrating about seven years ago. They were working about thirty-five percent. I stated watching some of the things I was eating and a year later they were at thirty percent. My doctor told me that soon I would have to get a new kidney if I didn’t watch it. My kidneys kept going down, and four years ago they reached twenty percent functioning. I went to three hospitals to get on a kidney transplant list. They all told me that my heart was a risk factor that they [...]