National Kidney Foundation -St. Louis

Mission:

The National Kidney Foundation, a major voluntary nonprofit health organization, is dedicated to preventing kidney and urinary tract diseases, improving the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by these diseases and increasing the availability of all organs for transplantation. The National Kidney Foundation is meeting the growing public health challenge of chronic kidney disease with a range of programs and services for hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals, millions of patients and tens of millions of Americans at risk.

Programs:

KEEP Healthy is the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) new community-based educational initiative to raise awareness about the kidneys, risk factors for kidney disease, and steps to take to keep kidneys healthy and reduce risk. The program also provides local NKF Affiliate/Division offices the flexibility of adding educational services which will help support a lifestyle consistent with keeping kidneys healthy. KEEP Healthy incorporates nearly two decades of the NKF’s experience providing national kidney health screenings and risk assessment activities. It includes: a brief health survey, blood pressure, and Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements, plus educational information and a consultation with a clinician. Program participants receive a copy of their results and are encouraged to discuss them with a healthcare provider. Participants are also directed to seek more information from the NKF, and offered a host of resources and programs, to help motivate participants to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Your Kidneys & You consists of a set of brief PowerPoint slides, along with scripted notes and handouts that National Kidney Foundation volunteers present to groups in their local area. The goals of this program are to:

• Raise awareness of kidneys, risk factors for kidney disease and how to protect kidneys
• Engage National Kidney Foundation volunteers
• Engage the general public and those at risk by encouraging them to: go to the doctor for kidney disease risk evaluation/testing, visit the National Kidney Foundation web site, call or email National Kidney Foundation Care, or share this presentation with others

Reaching 73 million people is a huge task and one that can only be accomplished by utilizing trained and dedicated volunteers. This program is designed so that anyone can present it; a medical background is not needed.