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Kidney Patient Advocacy Community joins
national effort to raise awareness about
health crisis Impacting more than 26 Million
Americans...DaVita
Patient Citizens promotes National Kidney
Month Programs to combat
spread of Kidney Disease; Incidents on the
Rise Nationwide
WASHINGTON, March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- DaVita Patient
Citizens
(DPC) -- a national patient advocacy group
comprised of more than 22,000 dialysis and
pre-dialysis patients and family members,
working to improve
the quality of life for all dialysis
patients through education and
advocacy—enthusiastically supports National
Kidney Month and applauds the kidney
community nationwide for participating in
this important initiative to educate
Americans of the dangers associated with
kidney disease and the importance of kidney
health and disease prevention.
Members of the DPC community, including
caregivers, dialysis patients, and their
family members, will participate in programs
throughout the month to educate communities
across the country about Chronic Kidney
Disease
(CKD).
National Kidney Month is also a time for the
kidney care community to reach out to
policymakers to engage in dialogue about the
need for policies that protect a growing
number of patients with kidney failure, as
well as education and prevention programs to
stop the spread of this health crisis in
America.
DPC will host a member fly-in in
Washington, DC during National Kidney
Month—where kidney patients can discuss CKD
with their elected officials.
“Educating our neighbors about the
importance of kidney disease early detection
and prevention is critical. There are 26
million Americans withCKD, and millions more
are at risk of developing the disease—it’s
up to us to help inform about its risk
factors to help them avoid it,” said Chad
Lennox,
Executive Director of DPC.
“We hope that
during National Kidney Month, lawmakers will
also recognize the enormity of kidney
disease’s impact on the nation, and will
take action to help fight it.”
Chronic conditions such as diabetes and
hypertension—the two leading risk factors
for kidney disease—continue to rise across
the U.S. and lead to new cases of CKD.
If not treated properly, CKD will progress
to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), commonly
known as kidney failure. Today, more than
400,000 Americans suffer from ESRD and rely
on lifesaving dialysis treatments to remove
toxins from the blood in place of their
failed kidneys.
Because kidney transplantation is severely
limited due to the shortage of suitable
donors, organ transplant rejection and the
age and health of many ESRD patients, most
patients must remain on dialysis for the
remainder of their lives.
On March 13, 2008, DPC will also be a proud
participant of World Kidney Day, a joint
initiative of the International Society of
Nephrology (ISN) and the International
Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF).
World Kidney Day first began in 2006 to
promote early detection of kidney disease,
now a leading public health threat
worldwide.
About DaVita Patient Citizens
DaVita Patient Citizens (DPC) is a nonprofit
patient organization dedicated to improving
dialysis patients’ quality of life by
developing awareness of dialysis issues,
advocating for dialysis patients, improving
the partnership between patients and
caregivers, and promoting favorable public
policy. To learn more about DPC, please
visit
http://www.dialysispatients.org.
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