After getting off the ground in October of 2007, the Kidney TRUST’s chronic kidney disease (“CKD”) rapid-screening program grew quickly in 2008, with over 5,000 people screened for CKD over the course of the year. This expansion was aided in no small measure by volunteers who have donated their time and expertise to the effort.

Etta Carter is a case in point. Etta, who has four children and two grandchildren, lives in Arlington, Texas where she works as Centralized Programs Manager for DaVita, Inc. She’s worked for DaVita for over 12 years in various positions that have led to close contact with dialysis patients. She’s also been personally affected by kidney disease — her grandmother, ex-father-in-law, and cousin all have CKD. MORE >>

Nick James, a 45-year-old oil rig technician in Farmington, New Mexico, is on dialysis and waiting for a kidney transplant. Nick’s first kidney transplant lasted 14 years, but failed three years ago and he’s been back on dialysis since. Nick has a donor lined up — the Bishop of his local Mormon church — but still needs to lose weight before the surgery can take place. Kidney disease runs in Nick’s family — three of his brothers have also had kidney failure and all are currently living with successful kidney transplants.

Nick and his family, including his wife, Glenda, daughter Samantha (age 12), and son Nicholas (age 5), have struggled financially since he went back on dialysis. Nick is thankful that he’s been able to hold on to a job with his long-time employer, but he was obliged to move into a less strenuous and lower paying assignment when his kidneys failed. Sticking with his job meant that he could retain his health insurance, but like most private plans, his insurance doesn’t cover everything and co-pays for drugs and doctor visits were becoming a real hardship.

That’s where the Kidney TRUST’s pilot Financial Assistance Program (“FAP”) came in. MORE >>

Part 2: Adding Diabetes into the Mix

If you have diabetes, you may be used to thinking of it as a blood sugar disease. It is, but it’s also much more than that. Diabetes affects the blood vessels — it is truly a vascular disease. This means that poor blood sugar control can harm your heart and your kidneys by causing damage to your blood vessels.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes, but affect your body in the same way. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The immune system attacks the pancreas, and the islet cells that make insulin are destroyed. With type 2 diabetes two things can happen. The islet cells may make less insulin than the body needs, or make enough insulin but the cells are unable to use it. What’s common to both? Too much sugar in your blood vessels, which can damage them. MORE >>