News & Events
Discover new information and educational offerings that we provide. Explore our newsletters, blogs and upcoming webinars/conference calls.
Contents:
Have you “saved the date”?
Preparations are in full swing for the DPC Education Center’s Inaugural Gala. We will honor the people you nominated for our Patient Award and our Healthcare Professional Award. The fundraising event will start with a “step and repeat” on the red carpet, followed by a meet & greet. We expect sponsors, patients, policy decision makers and others to join together for this first-time event! Entertainment will be provided by a popular local jazz pianist. A short program to honor our awardees and dinner will follow. Tickets are $500 per person and you will receive a charitable gift receipt for the cost of your ticket less the cost of dinner. We are very excited to see [...]
DPC Education Center’s Inaugural Gala
DPC Education Center’s (The Center) Annual Gala will be our first and we aspire to build good will and engage individuals for current and future philanthropic support. However, is not simply a celebration, more importantly, it is an effort to generate critical funds for kidney dialysis patient education. We are committed to reducing and avoiding End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) by addressing unmet needs and providing tools to empower dialysis patients. The Center’s Inaugural Gala will be an opportunity for those who support our mission to come together, celebrate and learn more about our programs. Our venue will be the very unique Rooftop Terrace of 101 Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, DC. Attendees will enjoy [...]
Exciting News from the Bloodstream Infection (BSI) Prevention Collaborative
Since 2011, DPC has been involved with the BSI Prevention Collaborative and was the first patient group to participate and attended the inaugural meeting in November 2011. The primary goal of the collaborative is preventing bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients with the secondary role of increasing awareness in the dialysis community. The group is open to most outpatient dialysis facilities throughout the United States and other community partners. Facilities that participate get access to best practices from experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and from others who are directly applying safety precautions in their own clinic. Members also have the ability meet in-person and over the phone on monthly calls, have [...]
Welcome Letter
Welcome to the DPC Education Center (The Center)! You have arrived here because you are a patient, a family member, a provider, a friend of the kidney community or you accidently discovered us on the internet. No matter how or why, we are pleased to have you here and hope that you make this a site that you frequent regularly. The Center Is incorporated as a new 501 C3, non-profit affiliate organization of the Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC). For those of you not aware of DPC, it is a member based non-profit organization, dedicated to improving the lives of dialysis patients. The Center expands the mission of DPC by empowering kidney patients through education, improving [...]
Setting up Your Home Dialysis Unit without Feeling like You’re Living in an ICU: Setting Up With Safety First
By Linda Gromko, MD and Jane C. McClure Some people won’t consider home dialysis because they worry they won’t be able to handle an emergency that might arise. We appreciate these concerns, but know that thinking and planning ahead can help you dialyze at home with greater comfort and safety than in a professional center. Remember that at home, your “patient” is the only patient. Infection risk is greatly reduced because of that factor alone. Nobody cares more about the quality and safety of your dialysis than you do! Besides, if the professionals at the center are dealing with another situation, they cannot give you the one-on-one consideration that you and your partner require. Will [...]
The DPC Education Center Inaugural Gala Update
Preparations for the DPC Education Center’s Inaugural Gala scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, 2014 are in full swing. Our venue is 101 Constitution Avenue, NW in Washington, DC. The rooftop terrace offers a spectacular panorama of downtown with the crown jewel, the Capitol building, at the forefront. You won’t find a more beautiful vantage point. The fundraiser will start with a red carpet “step and repeat.” Our professional photographer will be on hand to preserve the memories of the evening. After a meet and greet session with background music by a popular local jazz pianist, we will proceed to enjoy a sit-down dinner catered by Charlie Palmer Steak House. There will be a short presentation [...]
Setting up Your Home Dialysis Unit without Feeling like You’re Living in an ICU: Top Ten Considerations to Get You Started
By Linda Gromko, MD and Jane C. McClure Home dialysis offers unparalleled advantages for many kidney patients. Yet, living with home dialysis can make a family feel like they’re living in an Intensive Care Unit! It’s easy to get discouraged or overwhelmed. We (Linda, the doctor, and Jane, the designer) are here to help you set up your home dialysis unit so that your life is as comfortable and as convenient as it can be. Over the next few months, we’ll bring you a number of practical tips and guidelines that can help you live well with dialysis – without feeling like it’s taking over your whole life! Why do we care? Because we are strong [...]
“Fistula First” Keeps Life-saving Options Open!
Linda Gromko By Linda G., M.D. — Guest Blogger Check Out Recent CDC Recommendations on Reducing Infections The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in May 2013 results from a multi-center study on prevention of bloodstream infections in dialysis patients. The problem is enormous: during the study, 37,000 infections occurred in dialysis patients with central lines, at a cost of over $23,000 per admission. Dialysis patients also have a greater risk of contracting infections with resistant bacteria such as MRSA – and developing accompanying complications such as endocarditis (heart valve infection) and osteomyelitis (bone infection). Not to mention a significant mortality risk! According to CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, [...]
Legislation That Could Increase Access to Kidney Transplants
Recently, two bills relating to kidney and organ transplants have been introduced in Congress. The Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2013 (S. 323) in the Senate and a companion bill (H.R. 1325) in the House. If passed, these bills will extend Medicare immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant patients under 65 years old for the life of the graft. Under current law, Medicare beneficiaries who are under 65, and therefore only eligible for Medicare due to their ESRD diagnosis, lose Medicare coverage 3 years after their transplant. Without the immunosuppressive drugs, the body will reject the transplant and a patient must go back on dialysis. Currently, these drugs cost about [...]
Maintaining Mental Health After a Kidney Transplant
Mental health is just as important as physical health and the two go hand in hand. This shift of considering individual health as a whole mind body experience is refreshing, but the idea still needs to spread and build from a definition into a cultural mindset. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) know that the numbers on the machine or lab printout don’t tell the entire story. Research has shown that the death rate from chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes is two to three times greater for people living with mental illnesses.[1] As you can see having a chronic condition can greatly impact your mental state and [...]
Pairing Networks for Kidney Donation
Finding out that you need a new kidney can be devastating news. After the initial shock wears off, friends and family members graciously get screened and sometimes there is a good match, but sometimes there isn’t. It might seem like awful news, but focus back on the positives. You are still eligible to get a transplant and can still get an organ from a deceased donor. Oh wait there are still some new and exciting options available! Recently, pairing networks have been set up that give you even more options. The idea for creating these networks came from looking at the long wait list times and thinking that there must be a better way to [...]
Getting Listed on Multiple Transplant Waiting Lists
There are ways to help decrease your wait time for a kidney transplant even if you don’t have a living donor. One option is being listed on multiple transplant waiting lists at two or more centers. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has a really in depth resource available here. Being listed in multiple places helps by giving you access to more kidneys than are available to just your transplant center. Each transplant center gives first priority to those closest to their center, but being on the list could get you a transplant sooner if local candidates with the same amount of wait time aren’t good candidates for a donor organ. It is up to [...]
Your Diet After A Kidney Transplant
After you receive a transplant, it is possible that many of the diet restrictions you had during dialysis will disappear. This however, doesn’t mean that proper nutrition is any less important. Also, if you have other conditions like hypertension and diabetes, you will need to continue following those diet restrictions. Diet and proper nutrition become even more important because some of the immunosuppressants can also increase blood sugar levels leading to an increased risk of diabetes and increase your appetite. Also, even though many of your dialysis related restrictions go away, there are still things that you should keep doing. These are items that should continue to be limited in your diet. Processed foods Sodium [...]
How to Ask for a Living Donor
Asking someone to give you a kidney is not an easy thing to do. Although it is scary, the worst case scenario is that your friends and family won’t be able to be a donor. Some of you will have no problem asking and the process will be very smooth while others will be nervous to approach others with this request. A few tips to make it easier are: Educate friends and family members about your disease and how a transplant works Think about providing information and the opportunity to connect more than just asking Don’t pressure anyone and allow your potential donors to volunteer or decline Provide additional details to those that are [...]
Are You Cut Out to Do Home Dialysis?
By Dr. Linda Gromko, MD, Guest Blogger Hi my name is Dr. Linda Gromko and I am a Seattle family practice physician who assisted my husband Steve Williams with both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for three-and-a-half years before his death in April 2011. In coordination with interior designer Jane C. McClure, I wrote Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home: “The Underwear Factor’ and two other books about my family’s experience with ESRD. Last month, I discussed the advantages of doing dialysis at home. There’s no doubt that home dialysis – both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis – offer the opportunity for more personal flexibility and control. But it isn’t for everyone. If you’ve already said, [...]
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a pretty encompassing term. The World Health Organization defines it is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness. It accomplishes this through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. When thinking about palliative care: provides relief from pain and other related symptoms affirms life and regards dying as a process of life intends neither to hasten or postpone death integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death offers a support system [...]
March Education Webinar and Call: Tools and Techniques to Empower Yourself to Help Your Community
Webinar Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 3:00pm The new partnership between DPC and the DPC Education Center creates wonderful opportunities for each organization to use the skills and expertise of the other to work toward their shared goal of improving the lives of kidney disease patients. This partnership will be evident in our next Patient Education call entitled Tools and Techniques to Empower Yourself to Help Your Community, which will be held on March 26th at 2:00PM Eastern. The Center’s staff is currently developing toolkits for leading your own events such as walks or health fairs. Each kit will be tailored to the type of event and is a guide to help take the [...]
Welcome Webinar
Webinar Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 2:00pm This is a final reminder that the postponed DPC Education Center (The Center) Welcome Webinar is now scheduled for tomorrow Wednesday, March 20th at 1:00 pm ET. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by our postponement and hope that you can join us once again. The Center is excited to invite the kidney community to our welcome webinar and virtual open house. The Center is the new sister organization of Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) and has the broad goal of empowering patients through education. Since the organization is still in its early stages, this is a great chance to say hello to the world and tell you [...]
Go Ahead, Indulge Your Sweet Tooth!
Since it has been a long winter, DPC would like to share a late holiday gift. What better way to take your mind off of the snow accumulation and wind chill than a couple of renal friendly dessert recipes! Dessert is often one of the first things cut from the renal diet, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Most desserts contain chocolate or milk, which are foods high in phosphorous and potassium that can lead to bone and heart problems. This does limit dessert options for kidney patients, however, we all deserve a treat every now and then. Luckily, these two recipes are renal friendly, so do not hesitate to indulge your [...]
Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home
By Linda G, Guest Blogger Hi my name is Linda Gromko and I am a a Seattle family practice physician who served as my husband’s Care Partner in both home hemodialysis and home peritoneal dialysis for several years before his death in 2011. I am a strong advocate of home dialysis, and I have co-authored “Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home: The Underwear Factor” with Interior Designer Jane C. McClure. I also wrote “Complications: A Doctor’s Love Story,” and “Let Me Go When the Banter Stops: A Doctor’s Fight for the Love of Her Life.” I wanted to share my experiences in hopes of improving quality of life for all people on dialysis – [...]
