NC/Raleigh Vasculitis Support Group Holds December Meeting
12/6/2008
Seventh Annual NC Fun Ride for Vasculitis Foundation Raises Over $6,700
10/18/2008
Gerald Hladik, MD, professor at UNC Kidney Center, wins teaching award
Shankletown Reunion Visited by KEOP
7/3/2008
KEOP screening team shares victory with Greensboro Grasshoppers
6/25/2008
Kidney Coaching Foundation holds first annual family cookout
6/21/2008
Fuquay-Varina Health Fair visited by KEOP
6/21/2008
KEOP conducts screening at Community Hospital in Windsor
6/5/2008
KEOP Screens Citizens in Martin and Hertford Counties
5/17/2008
23rd Annual Meeting of the GDCN takes place
4/20/2008
Racing to Prevent Kidney Disease
4/20/2008
KEOP Participates in Anson County Health Fair for Seniors
4/8/2008
Kidney Center Partner Featured in Greensboro News-Record
4/6/2008
Ninety citizens screened at Greene County screening
3/29/2008
Kidney Week celebrated with week-long activities
3/20/2008
KEOP Screening Team Travels to Mt Gilead
3/20/2008
Runners, Walkers, Volunteers Support the Third Annual Kidney Kare 5K
3/15/2008
Prominent Nephrologist Discusses Gitelman Syndrome
2/26/2008
Martin County Senior Citizen Center Hosts KEOP Screening
2/14/2008
Four Bertie County Citizens Serve as Local Spokespersons
1/11/2008
NC/Raleigh Vasculitis Support Group Holds December Meeting
12/6/2008
The North Carolina/Raleigh Vasculitis Support Group met on December 6, 2008 at Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center in Durham. We had 38 attending, including 21 vasculitis patients. We welcomed 10 patients, family members and friends attending for the first time.
Clinical Dietician Aimee Shea from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center gave an outstanding presentation on nutrition and vasculitis for us. She talked about the complicated picture of nutrition and vasculitis, including how symptoms and treatment may impact nutritional status as well as how nutritional status may impact vasculitis. The slides from Aimee’s presentation are available at our group’s new website at http://ncvasculitissupportgroup.memberlodge.org/. We came away feeling renewed energy to take care of ourselves and eat well.
UNC Kidney Center representative Kristen Hendrickson brainstormed with us about information needs of vasculitis patients and caregivers for the Kidney Center’s use in planning future communications. Delesha Carpenter gave us an update on the early outcomes of The ASSIST study.
We enjoyed visiting with each other, talking with old friends and meeting new ones, including hearing the stories of those attending for the first time.
Our next meeting will be in the spring. If you or someone you know is interested in attending, please feel free to contact me.
Elaine Holmes
Email: eholmes18@nc.rr.com
Seventh Annual NC Fun Ride for Vasculitis Foundation Raises Over $6,700
10/18/2008
On Saturday, October 18 the 7th Annual NC Fun Ride in Burlington, NC raised over $6,700 and the tally is still growing. The riders and volunteers enjoyed a fun day with sunny, crisp fall weather, great music, hot chili and good fellowship. Over the seven years, the Fun Rides have raised close to $75,000 for vasculitis research, awareness and support through the Vasculitis Foundation.
Danette Anderson, NC Fun Ride organizer, extends a hearty thank you to all the participants, to those who donated items, and to all of the volunteers, including the vasculitis patients and their family members, who helped make this year’s ride great fun and a success.
Wonderful music from the Rough Cut Band
Fun Ride Organizer Danette Anderson and her husband, Randy
Gerald Hladik, MD, professor at UNC Kidney Center, wins teaching award
Dr. Gerald Hladik is the 2008 recipient of the Sun Trust Bank Excellence in Teaching Award. Nominees were selected by the Class of 2008.
The prestigious award was established in 1973 to acknowledge meritorious skill in teaching.
Shankletown Reunion Visited by KEOP
7/3/2008
On Thursday, July 3, the KEOP conducted a screening in Concord, NC, which is located in Cabarrus County. Thirty registrants for the Historic Logan - Shankletown Reunion were screened at the Logan Recreation Center.
Read more on the school's history and reunion
here.
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Logan Recreation Center in Cabarrus County, NC |
KEOP screening team shares victory with Greensboro Grasshoppers
June 25, 2008
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The impressive NewBridge Bank Park, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, a class A affiliate of the Florida Marlins, was the site of a CKD screening and awareness activity on Wednesday, June 25th.
Sponsored by the KEOP and the Joseph Bryan Foundation, the event provided free screenings to at-risk citizens. The first one-hundred citizens received free t-shirts and tickets to the 12:30 pm game versus the West Virginia Power.
Perfect baseball weather and a great turnout were complemented by a come-back victory by the Grasshoppers when a 2-out, 8th inning grand slam by Matt Dominquez resulted in an 8-7 final score.
The KEOP screening team of Andy Bomback, Terry Carver, Julie Hamra, Donna Harward, Suzie Hosman and Bradley Layton were joined by Tommy, RB and Kerri Arthur from A & Z Racing, who brought their UNCKC-sponsored Top Sportsman, 2000 Pontiac Firebird dragster to help promote CKD awareness. A live interview with Channel 14 helped the KEOP extend its message to those who could not make it to the ball park.
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KEOP team members find some shade under the MOU awning |
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Tommy Arthur poses with the 2000 Pontiac Firebird dragster |
Andy Bomback, Julie Hamra, Bradley Layton |
Kidney Coaching Foundation holds first annual family cookout
6/21/2008
Families, medical staff, volunteers and board members of the Kidney Coaching Foundation gathered together on Saturday, June 21 for the first annual family cookout, held at Jordan Lake State Park.
Watch the video taken that day, which includes UNC Kidney Center's Dr. Debbie Gipson, Sandy Grubbs and Lynn McCoy.
Group shot at the first annual Kidney Coaching Foundation cookout
Lynn McCoy, Deidra Hall, Dr. Debbie Gipson
Kidney Coaching Foundation Board
Fuquay-Varina Health Fair visited by KEOP
June 21, 2008
On Saturday, June 21st, the KEOP screening and awareness team participated in St. Augusta Missionary Baptist Church’s health fair in Fuquay-Varina. UNC team members Terry Carver, Vimal Derebail, Donna Harward, Dina Smith were joined by Mona Tewari, from Abbott Laboratories.
The fair provided citizens with information/resources about numerous health and safety issues as well as free screenings for HIV and CKD, and blood pressure checks.
topKEOP conducts screening at Community Hospital in Windsor
June 5, 2008
Temperatures in the high nineties, beautiful skies and a stiff breeze greeted the KEOP team during their trip to Bertie Memorial Hospital (BMC) on Wednesday, June 5th. Mary Davis, a community KEOP spokesperson, arranged for the KEOP to conduct the consent, surveying and informational components of the screening in the beautiful lobby of the Bertie Community Hospital. The urine analysis and consult were conducted on the mobile outreach unit. Forty-five citizens were screened.
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Community partners and UNC Screening team for Bertie County |
KEOP Screens Citizens in Martin and Hertford Counties
May 17, 2008
On Wednesday, May 7th, the KEOP participated in a Senior Citizens’ Health Fair at The Senator Martin Agricultural Center in Williamston, NC. The Martin County Council on Aging sponsored the fair and the team of Donna Harward, Caroline Jennette, Lynn McCoy, and Vicki Patterson screened 52 citizens.
On Saturday, May 17th, the UNC Kidney Center, in cooperation with the North Carolina Chapter of the National Kidney Foundation (NCNKF), conducted a screening at the First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro in Hertford County. Mike Brown, Donna Harward and Caroline Jennette were joined by Denise Hockaday, NCNKF Vice president for programs and 41 citizens were screened for CKD.
23rd annual meeting of the GDCN takes place
April 20, 2008
The Glomerular Disease Collaborative Network (GDCN) provides a way for health care professionals and patients to work together to learn more about diseases that affect the filters (glomeruli) in the kidney. Every year, kidney doctors, nurses, and pathologists in the network meet up for continuing education and to review ongoing and new studies involving patients with glomerular disease.
This year, guest speakers Manikkam Suthanthiran and Phyllis August came from Cornell Medical college to discuss biomarkers in kidney transplant rejection and issues around hypertension and the kidneys. Dr. Karin True gave a talk on recurrent glomerular disease after kidney transplantation and Dr. Samy Iskandar from Wake Forest University facilitated a clinical pathology conference.
The GDCN is administered by the UNC Kidney Center and is co-directed by Drs. Ronald Falk and J. Charles Jennette. Research registries are coordinated by Susan Hogan, PhD (adult), and Debbie Gibson, MD (pediatric). For more information on the GDCN annual meetings click here.
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Guest Speaker Dr. Phyllis August and Dr. Debbie Gipson, GDCN Pediatric Research Director |
From left to right:Dr. Reed and Dr Hoggard from Eastern Nephrology Associates Greenville, Dr. Vu from Kingsport Kidney Health |
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Racing to Prevent Kidney Disease
April 20, 2008
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| Second-year medical student, Abhineet Uppal, works the outreach table |
On Sunday, April 20th, the KEOP provided free screenings to citizens at the International Hot Road Association’s spring drag racing competition in Rockingham, NC (Richmond County). The A & Z Team raced well and made it to Sunday's semi-final round.
Tommy Arthur, Keri Arthur and Jay Zimmerman helped the KEOP secure this opportunity to screen at-risk citizens and the screening team of Terry Carver, Donna Harward, Caroline Jennette, Vicki Patterson, Joe Piscitello and Abhineet Uppal interacted with many race fans and race participants to promote awareness about the risk factors for CKD, to distribute CKD scorecards and to screen citizens at risk for the disease.
Everyone’s ears are still ringing from the roar of engines, but it was a perfect setting to promote CKD awareness and to support the UNCKC racing team.
KEOP Participates in Anson County Health Fair for Seniors
April 8, 2008
The Kidney Education Outreach Program participated in a health fair sponsored by the Anson County Senior Citizens Program in Wadesboro, NC. The screening team of Rowena Brown, Donna Harward, Suzie Hosman and Caroline Jennette, screened 42 citizens, answered questions about CKD and provided educational materials.
Kidney Center Partner Featured in Greensboro News-Record
April 6, 2008
The A and Z Racing Team is a valued partner in the KEOP's statewide CKD awareness campaign.
A recent article in the Guilford County Record recognizes the Team's role in raising awareness and shares the story of Tommy Arthur and Jay Zimmerman's friendship and the motivation behind their special partnership with the KEOP.
Read story in the News-Record.
topNinety citizens screened at Greene County screening
March 29, 2008
The KEOP team of Keisha Gibson, Donna Harward, Jeffrey Jackson, Carolina Jennette, Lynn McKoy, and Beverly Rodegast traveled to Snow Hill, North Carolina (Greene County) to screen citizens at the Victory and Dominion World Outreach Center.
Supplies for this activity were funded through an Office for Minority Health and Health Disparities grant awarded to the North Carolina Chapter of the National Kidney Foundation. Members of the Community Health Ambassador Training Program (CHATP) assisted with on-site logistics and the KEOP staff screened 90 citizens.
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Donna Harward with Pastor Bishop |
KEOP unit parked at VDWO Center |
Kidney Week celebrated with week-long activities
March 20, 2008
The UNC Kidney Center celebrated National Kidney Month with a “Kidney Week” full of outreach and educational activities.
UNC Kidney Week kicked off on World Kidney Day, Thursday, March 13, with a free screening at the Hargraves Center in Chapel Hill hosted by the center’s Kidney Education Outreach Program (KEOP).
On Saturday the 15th, the 3rd annual Kidney Kare 5K Run/Walk took place at McDougle Middle School in Chapel Hill. Hundreds of runners and walkers turned out to support the Kidney Center's biggest fundraiser, which benefits the KEOP and the Kidney Patient Emergent Fund.
Kidney Week continued with The Gottschalk Lecture on Tuesday the 18th. Dr. Carl Gottschalk was a physiologist and high-ranking researcher at UNC who made groundbreaking discoveries in renal physiology. This year’s featured lecturer was Bertil Hille, Wayne E. Crill Endowed Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington, and his lecture was entitled "G-Protein Coupled Receptors and Phosphoinositides Modulate Ion Channels and Many Cellular Functions."
The Blythe Lecture capped off Kidney Week on Wednesday the 19th. Dr. William Blythe was a distinguished and admired former chief of the Nephrology division at UNC and was a Marion Covington Professor of Medicine Emeritus. This year's Blythe lecturer was Dr. Billy Hudson, Elliott V Newman Professor of Medicine and Director of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He lectured on "An Emerging Role for Cryptic B-Cell Epitopes in Autoimmunity: Molecular Insights from Goodpasture Autoimmune Disease."
KEOP Screening Team Travels to Mt Gilead
MOU gets set up at Highland Community Center.
March 20, 2008
The KEOP sponsored a health fair for senior citizens at the Highland Community Center in Mt.Gilead on Thursday, March 20th. Mary Graves, KEOP’s lay leader for Montgomery County, coordinated participants from Mary G’s Diabetes Awareness Outreach, Thomas Insurance & Diabetic Supply Company, the Montgomery County Health Department (TB emphasis), Shipman Family Care Home Care Agency, Montgomery County Red Cross, and the Montgomery County Council on Aging.
Citizens were provided lunch compliments of the Troy Senior Center. The Mt. Gilead screening team included Donna Harward, Jeffrey Jackson, Caroline Jennette, Sophia Lionaki, and Joe Piscitello.
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Mt Pleasant resident getting screened. |
Highland Center grounds hint of spring! |
Runners, Walkers, Volunteers Support the Third Annual Kidney Kare 5K
March 15, 2008
Event SponsorsAbbott
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The rain held out for the hundreds of runners, walkers and volunteers who turned out for the third annual Kidney Kare 5K, which was held under sunny Chapel Hill skies on March 15, 2008. This annual event raises funds for the Kidney Education Outreach Program (KEOP) and brings kidney disease to the attention of the local community.
The weather was cool, but the runners were scorching the pavement. David Dunson of Chapel Hill won the overall with a time of 17:26. The women’s overall was won by Mary Gill of Carrboro in a time of 18:33. Full results can be found at www.offnrunningsports.com. Walkers and runners alike enjoyed the event, including many families with children who participated in the fun.
This year there were a few new components which added to the excitement and popularity of the event. The 5k course was certified by USA Track & Field (USATF) , which means that a certified course measurement was taken to insure the distance.
Another new feature of this year’s event was the addition of a fund raising category to the awards group. The top fundraisers were Ann Dunbar, who raised $3,150 and Tony Faucette, who raised $1,300.
Support from this event is used to directly fund the Kidney Center’s free kidney screenings and to purchase educational materials and supplies necessary to carry on the mission of the KEOP. A portion of the proceeds also goes to the Kidney Patient Emergent Fund, used to assist UNC kidney patients with emergent financial needs.
Kidney Center associates give thanks for the generosity of all sponsors, donors and participants and remind everyone to remember to ask “Hey doc, how are my kidneys?”
Prominent Nephrologist Discusses Gitelman Syndrome
February 26, 2008
Dr. H.J. Gitelman |
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UNC Kidney Center trainees and faculty were delighted that Dr. H.J. Gitelman returned to campus this week to discuss Gitelman Syndrome in the context of two patients with a similar condition.
Insightful instruction complemented by humorous commentary revealed the pedagogical skill that marked his tenure as a clinician, researcher and dedicated, second-year course director at the School of Medicine.
Martin County Senior Citizen Center Hosts KEOP Screening
February 14, 2008
On Thursday, February 14th, the KEOP mobile outreach unit and
its team of Lynn McCoy, Beverly Rodegast, Jeffrey Jackson, Donna
Harward, Caroline Jennette and Joe Piscitello traveled to
Williamston for a screening at the Martin County Senior Citizens’
Center.
Four lucky citizens won gift certificates for coming out to get screened on Valentine’s Day and a total of 70 at-risk citizens were screened.
Thanks to Marsha Anderson, Director, and Christie Herring, Health and Wellness Director, for coordinating our screening with the many other wonderful activities scheduled for Martin citizens on Valentine’s Day.
New research shows that a life without immunosuppression may eventually be possible for kidney transplant patients
January 24, 2008
Currently, patients who receive kidney transplants must take anti-rejection drugs, also known as immunosuppressives, to protect their transplanted kidney. Kidney recipients must keep their immune system suppressed so that their body doesn’t attack or reject the transplanted kidney. The problem: anti-rejection drugs are costly, and can cause a lot of side effects which may lead to other health problems down the road.
Research coming from several transplant centers is now showing that it may be possible to use blood cells and bone marrow cells from kidney donors to reduce the need for immunosuppressants. In an article recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, five patients with living related donors (donors who were family members) were given bone marrow and kidneys from their donors at the same time. Four of the five patients were able to stop immunosuppressive therapy after about a year and have stayed off therapy for 2-5 years.
Although more research will need to be done, this could be a promising new way to prevent kidney rejection without the use of harmful and expensive drugs.
To learn more about medications used for kidney transplant
recipients, click HERE
To learn how to be an organ donor, click HERE
Four Bertie County Citizens Serve as Local Spokespersons
January 11, 2008
BERTIE COUNTY -- Three KEOP billboards made their debut in Bertie County this month. Local spokespersons: Mary Davis, Cashie Medical Center; Bill Pittman, pharmacist/proprietor of Pittman’s Pharmacy; Venita Thompson, director of Bertie County Senior Citizens Center; and, Reverend Ralph D. White, Pastor of Indian Woods Missionary Baptist Church look great as they promote our "HEY DOC, HOW ARE MY KIDNEYS?" campaign.
We are excited about the expansion of our media campaign into a fourth County and are grateful for the leadership of these good citizens.