Fresenius Medical Care and Tennessee Kidney Foundation Perform 200 Kidney Disease Screenings at Healthy 4 Life Expo
October 07 2014 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Free Screenings Help to Identify Those Most at
Risk for Kidney Failure, While There’s Still Time to Prevent It
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the nation’s
leading network of dialysis facilities, partnered with the
Tennessee Kidney Foundation to screen more than 200 people during
the recent WSMV 4 Healthy 4 Life Expo to determine their risk of
developing chronic kidney disease (CKD).
CKD – which affects more than 26 million Americans – is a
potentially life-threatening loss of kidney function that often
goes undiagnosed in its early stages, when it can still be treated
by medication, exercise and diet changes. Once the disease
progresses to permanent kidney failure, the only treatments are
dialysis several times a week or a kidney transplant. Tennessee has
one of the country’s highest rates of kidney failure with over
9,600 people on dialysis to stay alive.
During the expo, Tennessee Kidney Foundation and FMCNA
healthcare professionals offered free kidney awareness risk
evaluation (KARE) screenings to measure participants’ risk for CKD
by evaluating their blood pressure, height, weight and urine test
results, along with answers to a few general medical history
questions. The medical volunteers also provided general information
on CKD and dialysis treatment options during the event, which
attracted an estimated 20,000 people to Nashville’s Music City
Center on Sept. 20 and 21.
This is the second year FMCNA has teamed up with the Tennessee
Kidney Foundation to participate in the event. “Our entire team
came together to plan, organize, and staff the event and to provide
important kidney health information to the community,” says Rose
Wynn, FMCNA’s Regional Vice President. More than two dozen FMCNA
employees helped to organize and staff the screening event, along
with 3 kidney foundation staff. Jeffrey Hymes, M.D., FMCNA’s Senior
Vice President and Associate Chief Medical Officer, also
participated at the event, providing post-screening results
consultation.
The KARE program is a free community-based, health screening
program that seeks to identify individuals at increased risk for
kidney disease and encourage them to seek further evaluation and
follow up with their physicians. “The goal is to identify the
development of kidney disease and/or failure at the earliest
possible stages,” says Teresa Davidson, Chief Executive Officer,
Tennessee Kidney Foundation. “We hope to educate individuals at
increased risk of developing kidney disease about the importance of
early detection, early intervention, and preventing the
complications of hypertension and diabetes.”
About the Tennessee Kidney Foundation
The Tennessee Kidney Foundation’s mission is to improve the
health and well being of Tennesseans affected by kidney disease
through education, prevention, treatment, advocacy and promotion of
organ donation. Over 502,000 Tennesseans are at risk for Chronic
Kidney Disease, many of whom are unaware, so creating great
awareness of this silent killer is a central part of the mission of
the Tennessee Kidney Foundation. Last year alone at our KARE
screenings we found that 36% of the people we screened were obese;
15% of the people screened had an abnormal reading on their
urinalysis, which suggest that they have a mild to moderate injury
to their kidney. This suggests that they should be seen by their
PCP and treated with appropriate medications such as an ACE
inhibitor.
For more information about the company, visit
www.tennesseekidneyfoundation.orgAnd look for our KARE
screenings
Fresenius Medical Care North AmericaThrough its leading
network of more than 2,150 dialysis facilities in North America and
vascular access centers, laboratory, pharmacy and affiliated
hospitals and nephrology practices, Fresenius Medical Care provides
renal services to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the
United States, Mexico and Canada. It is also the continent’s top
producer of dialysis equipment, dialyzers and related disposable
products and a major supplier of renal pharmaceuticals.
For more information about the company, visit www.fmcna.com; for
information about patient services, visit
www.ultracare-dialysis.com.
Media contact:Upward AgencyHeather Smith,
857-453-6701Heather.smith@upwardagency.com
Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024