Controlling two diseases can help you prevent kidney failure
Freeman holds annual kidney walk
Kidney disease is widespread: More than half a million people in the US currently undergo dialysis because of it. This weekend Freeman Hospital held the annual March O’ the Kidney at Joplin’s Northpark Mall.
Tammy Beaver, Freeman East Dialysis Nurse Coordinator, says, despite kidney disease being so widespread, there is something you can do to keep from developing it.
“The important thing to do is to get check ups at least once a year with your primary care doctor,” Beavers states.
“You want to make sure you keep diabetes and hypertension controlled,” she says. “Those are the two leading reasons that people are on dialysis – high blood pressure and diabetes.“
Beaver says dialysis to clean the blood and keep patients alive requires 3 sessions a week and those sessions can take as long as five hours.
It’s an enormous expense of time and financial resources.
The annual Freeman event helps some patients with medication, travel and dialysis costs.
Worldwide, over thirty million people have end stage kidney disease (ESKD) requiring dialysis.