Tools to Improve Kidney Care

March | 2021

March Home and Transplant Change Package Newsletter

March is National Kidney Month, a time when communities across the country raise awareness about kidney disease. This year's focus is on taking charge of your health and the many factors that go into managing your kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious condition affecting 37 million people. Several organizations have resources available to promote awareness. Review the resources and encourage your patients to share the information with their family and friends and discuss what they can do to improve their kidney health.

National Kidney Month Resources

Use these free National Kidney Month materials in your community outreach efforts.

Get To Know Your Kidneys

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National Kidney Month Toolkit

Download

Better Together

Home Heroes and Transplant Trailblazers

Peer-to-peer support is a proven method to inspire people on dialysis to seek their best treatment options. Having a Home Dialysis Hero and Transplant Trailblazer can benefit your facility and your patients. Review these fliers with your staff and come up with a plan that will motivate staff and patients in adopting a mindset that home dialysis is possible and creating a pro-transplant culture.

Home Hero

Transplant Trailblazer

Patient Recognition

Highlight your facility’s Transplant Trailblazers and Home Dialysis Heroes by posting these patient recognition fliers. Please refer to your facility policy about displaying patient information.

In Case You Missed It... SHOUT OUT for Kidney Health!

In recognition of National Kidney Month, Qsource ESRD Networks launched the “SHOUT OUT for Kidney Health!” campaign to recognize people who are living well with kidney disease and the care providers that help them every day. During March, we are focusing on a different group each week giving a Shout Out to thank them for their efforts and share their story to encourage others.

Follow us on Facebook and share these stories of inspiration of people living well with kidney disease.
Visit our websites at Network 10 or Network 12 to read the stories, download, print and share the stories with your patients at your clinic.
Transplant Trailblazers (March 1-5)
Home Heroes (March 8-12)
Email Network 10 (IL) or Network 12 (IA,KS,MO,NE) and tell us about your Transplant Trailblazer or Home Hero and why they deserve a SHOUT OUT!

Engaging Patients and Families

Action For Kidney Health Calendar

March: Caring For My Kidneys

March’s Action for Kidney Health Calendar topic is -Caring for My Kidneys, focusing on the everyday treatment matters that impact patients’ quality of life. For patient engagement ideas and resources, download and review the Caring for My Kidney’s- Topic of the Month sheet.

March’s Action for Kidney Health ideas include:

Home: “Doing shorter treatments more often at home is gentler on your body and can help with fluid control.”
Transplant: “Review your labs with your care team and ask what you can do to stay on track and ready for transplant.”

April: Talk Transplant

April’s Action for Kidney Health topic is Talk Transplant, focusing on educating patients about kidney transplant as a treatment option.

Download and print the calendars for your patients and encourage them to take action for their kidney health.

Download March Calendar

Download April Calendar

Home Dialysis Central Launches New Mini-Courses for Patients

In conjunction with National Kidney Month, the non-profit Medical Education Institute (MEI) is launching nine new home dialysis patient education online mini-courses. Ready-Set-Home eClasses are a new, free resource from MEI’s Home Dialysis Central program. The dynamic, mobile-friendly lessons were designed to be convenient and easy to understand, and are written to give patients knowledge and confidence about home treatment.

Learn More

This newsletter was prepared and distributed by Qsource ESRD Networks, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (contract number HHSM-500-2016-00010C and HHSM-500-2016-00012C). The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 21.Q-ESRD.03.039

ESRD Network 10: 317-257-8265 | Patient Line: 800-456-6919 | Website

ESRD Network 12: 816-880-9990 | Patient Line: 800-444-9965 | Website