An Update from the National Kidney Foundation of Florida

May 6 2020 – The National Kidney Foundation has made the health and safety of the American people it’s number one priority which is why we have worked tirelessly advocating and addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

As COVID-19 spreads across the world, there are tens of thousands of Americans with kidney disease – who already face dangerous health obstacles – holding their breath hoping to dodge this bullet.  The National Kidney Foundation is right there with them during every second that passes.  We are focused on helping every person with kidney disease through this crisis.

 

At a time when patients and their families need us most, we’ve had to postpone many fundraising events critical to protecting those who depend on us to keep fighting.  We fought for personal protective equipment needed for all caregivers and patients during the COVID-19 outbreak.  We immediately went to work when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened transplant surgeries and convinced the federal government to clarify that organ transplants were “essential”.  We jumped into action to highlight the policy and regulation hurdles in the way of home dialysis training and we won’t stop until anyone who wants to safely, can treat at home.

 

Finally, we continue to go to bat for patients with end stage renal disease to ensure that they are not deprived of life-saving interventions for COVID-19 including ventilation.

 

Early data from Wuhan and New York City show that an estimated 14 to 30 percent of COVID-19 patients lose kidney function, with many ICU patients requiring dialysis. In hot spots within the United States such as New York City, early estimates indicate that 20 to 40 percent of COVID-19 ICU patients develop kidney failure and need emergency dialysis. And one of the most disheartening, new data suggests that the mortality rate for kidney transplant patients from COVID-19 is a staggering 30%.

 

Despite this data, COVID-19 won’t stop the local office of the National Kidney Foundation of Florida in Orlando, FL.  Now more than ever, kidney patients, professionals, and care partners need our help.  We remain focused on the health and safety of our professionals and those around us, we are also focused on continued service to the patients through NKFF programs. We have taken steps to make sure we can continue to deliver the necessary and vital resources from these programs to our patient communities. This includes continuing to deliver emergency grants to both dialysis and transplant patients through the Direct Aid and Hawthorne Programs. We are grateful for our staff and volunteers, who are now working virtually to make this possible.