Tour DaVita Rolls to the Finish Line

The second annual Tour DaVita^TM rolled to the finish line in Algoma, Wisconsin on September 18th with riders completing a 280-mile bike ride to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease (“CKD”) and raise funds for The Kidney TRUST.  Led by DaVita® Chairman and CEO Kent Thiry, 217 DaVita teammates participated in the four-day event.

Just a few days later, about 2,000 miles west in Tacoma, Washington, hundreds of supporters stepped out on Sunday, September 21 as part of the DaVita KAT Walks Across America^TM.  Tacoma was the 11th stop in a 20-city walkathon dedicated to raising money to fight CKD and benefit The Kidney TRUST.

DaVita, which is the founding sponsor of The Kidney TRUST and a leading provider of kidney care services in the U.S., sponsors both events as part of the company’s commitment to reduce the progression of kidney disease in the U.S.

The Kidney TRUST’s President Barbara Lawson, who was in Wisconsin to cheer on the Tour DaVita riders, commented, “Participants came from all parts of the country to ride together and make a personal contribution to the fight against kidney disease. These dedicated DaVita teammates spent countless hours training for the ride, while raising thousands of dollars for the fight against kidney disease, but the riders I spoke with said that it was a ‘labor of love’ given how strongly they feel about the cause.  All of us at The Kidney TRUST are so pleased and proud to be the beneficiary of their efforts, which will support the expansion of the Kidney TRUST’s CKD rapid-screening program currently rolling out around the U.S.”

The 3rd annual national “Kidney Awareness Time” Walk-a-thon (KAT Walk^TM) kicked off on June 29th in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Walkers from all across the U.S. are participating in this year’s walks.  The DaVita KAT Walks Across America will pass through 20 cities in 16 states, ending on December 7 in Orlando, Florida.

“26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, yet nine in ten of them don’t even know it because early-stage CKD rarely has symptoms,” said Janelle London, a director with DaVita and a kidney disease patient herself. “That’s why we walk – to let people know of the importance of getting tested now, rather than discover they have the disease when it is already too late to prevent kidney failure.”

For more information about Tour DaVita and the DaVita KAT Walks Across America visit www.tourdavita.com and www.kidneyawarenesstime.org.