TRUST’s Rapid-Screening Program Kicks into High Gear in 2011

Kidney TRUST volunteers provide a CKD screening.

The Kidney TRUST’s rapid-screening team has been crisscrossing the country in 2011 to spread the word about the hidden dangers of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and how it can be prevented. In the first three years of the program, the TRUST had screened nearly 15,000 individuals for CKD. By the end of 2011 The TRUST will be conducting screenings at a rate of nearly 15,000 per year, with the intent to continue to extend the scope and reach of the CKD screening program through 2012.

Gloria Upchurch, the TRUST’s CKD screening program manager, who has been leading this year’s charge, says that the TRUST’s screening team has become a welcome collaborative partner at community and employer health fairs all across the country over the past year. She points to particularly successful screening events like the Congressional Black Caucus meeting in Washington, D.C. where nearly 300 people from the Washington, D.C. community were screened and the 10TV Health Expo in Columbus, Ohio where there were more than 600 screens completed during the two-day event.

Gloria Upchurch

Along with learning their screening results onsite, screening participants benefit from a personal education session to explain their results and any individual risk factors, receive materials that offer additional education about CKD and its prevention, and are encouraged to seek medical follow-up as appropriate.

A startling 31 million Americans have CKD and 90 percent don’t know it.  People with diabetes and heart disease are particularly at risk of developing CKD. “Ethnicity is another key factor,” said Gloria. “African Americans, Hispanics, and Pacific Islanders are at greater risk for CKD than other groups and so we make a concerted effort to target those communities while building out our screening schedule.”

For example, throughout November 2011 the TRUST will be offering screening at a series of health fairs in California and Texas targeted at the Hispanic community.  ¡Vive tu vida! Get Up! Get Moving!®, presented by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, is the nation’s premier annual Hispanic family physical activity and healthy lifestyle event.

The TRUST offered free CKD screenings at its "Bed Race for Life" event in October 2011.

“We’re excited to be participating as a ¡Vive tu vida! Get Up! Get Moving!® partner, which allows us to reach many people who didn’t know that kidney disease might affect them,” said Gloria. “At every screening event we identify an average of 12-14 percent of those screened as being in early stages of kidney disease.”

She concluded “The great news is that we can arm these individuals with the knowledge necessary to potentially head off serious problems by consulting their doctor and taking the right steps to protect their kidneys.  It’s extremely satisfying to know that the TRUST is helping to put these individuals on the road to a healthier life and potentially saving their lives.”