Tuesday 23 February 2010

Fresenius Dialysis Patient Champions - 2010

Fresenius Medical Care, the big dialysis services and products provider, has selected 31 patients (that's one for each day in March) who, it feels, have shown dedication, positive attitudes and / or provided inspiration to other CKD patients.

“During National Kidney Month, we are pleased to honor these 31 patients who demonstrate that people with CKD can lead well-rounded, fulfilling lives,” says Rice Powell, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care North America. “Many successful long-term dialysis patients are self-reliant people who have embraced their treatment program, and want to live as normal a life as possible.”

They plan to publish details about each patient on their web site, but at the present moment the champions pages are not on-line, not even a holding page. So no link to them yet. I might summarise a few of these patient reports here (but with 31 to choose from, it might take a while to decide who to talk about). Usually such stories describe personal achievements in overcoming problems, or how they continue with their work or hobbies just as before starting dialysis, and they can help those new to dialysis realise what they can do. Fresenius has a newsletter that often gives details about one or two CKD sufferers (who, just by coincidence, use their products), and I'd guess these champion stories will be in a similar format.