For over three years, dialysis has been a central part of my life. Three times every week I go to the dialysis center, where I check in on my friends who also get treated there and catch up on my favorite cooking shows during my treatment. The doctors and nurses at my facility are incredible. They’re like a second family, and often pick up on medical problems before they even start doing tests. Even when I suffered a major stroke at the dialysis center, they were there for me. However, other patients don’t have the benefit of all of their [...]

One of the most difficult moments of my life was finding out that, despite being only 24 years old, my kidney was beginning to fail. After years of dialysis and a kidney transplant, I learned through my experiences in the health care system what needs to be improved. Doctors and nurses need a better care coordination framework to more effectively treat their patients.  I had the benefit of working with terrific nurses and other providers who met my needs and communicated well between one another, but unfortunately that’s not the case for every kidney patient. Some patients I’ve talked to struggle because [...]

When I first learned I had kidney disease, I was fortunate to not have to start dialysis right away. For about six or seven years, my doctor worked hard to keep me healthy, doing everything he felt was safe before finally recommending that I begin dialysis treatments. When I finally began dialysis treatments at my local clinic, I found a dedicated and involved team of health care providers that were always willing to respond to calls and answer my questions, no matter the time of day. The team at my clinic is proactive and working with them has made going through [...]

Too often, we forget about the personal and mental health struggles facing patients with serious medical illnesses. This is especially true for dialysis patients, who often have to upend their lives to receive the treatments they need. I’ve experienced this personally when after three years of balancing dialysis treatments and doctor’s appointments, I was forced to close a successful restaurant that I had built from the ground up. What followed were years of struggle in order to manage my treatments and ensure that I was receiving the best care possible. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and the [...]

While most people with COVID-19 experience mild symptoms, dialysis patients like me who have a weakened immune system are more vulnerable to serious complications from the highly contagious virus. Now more than ever, immunocompromised patients with kidney disease must have coordinated medical care to ensure they are receiving the best health care possible from all of our medical providers. I know how well this works first hand because I am part of a coordinated care pilot program. Because of my multiple conditions, I see a nephrologist, a cardiologist, a primary care doctor, and a vascular surgeon, among others, and they [...]

My experience with dialysis extends four years: from when my first kidney transplant failed in 2014 to when I received my second transplant in 2018. During that time, the most frustrating thing I encountered was a lack of care coordination. I bounced between several doctors who treated my various health issues independently. Every doctor’s visit required me to provide my full medical history, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. This was a burdensome task while still working a full-time job to support my family. However, my treatment center began implementing greater care coordination. This meant my doctors were starting to work [...]