NIH kidney disease experts urge: Get Involved

A new series of free tools and resources will help community groups increase awareness about steps to prevent kidney disease or improve management. The online resource is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP).
A new section of the NKDEP website called Get Involved, provides an online suite of free educational materials to health care providers and communities, designed as an easily accessible and time-saving central repository. The section offers the following tools that can be used by physicians, healthcare organizations, community health centers and other groups interested in kidney disease, such as families:

Fact sheets on kidney disease and NKDEP
Kidney disease illustrations
Newsletter articles for patients and providers
Social media content

"We develop materials that are simple, short and usable, especially for people from high-risk populations and the providers who serve them," said NKDEP Director Andrew S. Narva, M.D. "We want to make sure that everyone who is affected by kidney disease — patients, families and communities — are aware of our free materials and can access them quickly and easily."
NKDEP also offers a variety of outreach tools, including resources for faith-based groups such as the Kidney Sundays toolkit for African-American communities. Additionally, the NKDEP Family Reunion Initiative encourages African-American families to discuss kidney health at family gatherings.
"NKDEP offers great tools for healthcare providers to use when speaking to patients about kidney disease," said Anne Camp, M.D., diabetes program director at Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven, Conn. "I use their materials every day in my practice and have recommended them to colleagues in my clinic and at other health centers."
If you would like to help spread the word about the availability of NKDEP materials, please e-mail nkdep@info.niddk.nih.gov for individualized assistance. Together, we can all educate people at risk for or diagnosed with kidney disease about prevention and treatment options.
Learn more about Get Involved resources at www.nkdep.nih.gov/about/getinvolved.
NKDEP is an initiative of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), one of the National Institutes of Health. NKDEP aims to raise awareness of the seriousness of kidney disease, the importance of testing those at high risk, and the availability of treatment to prevent or slow kidney failure. For more information about NKDEP, visit http://www.nkdep.nih.gov/.
NIDDK, a component of the NIH, conducts and supports research in diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about NIDDK and its programs, see http://www.niddk.nih.gov/.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health

NIH kidney disease experts urge: Get Involved, January 25, 2012 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)