Livingston, N.J. – The Saint Barnabas Health Care System Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division will offer two upcoming Transplant Symposia for people with chronic kidney disease and their families.
These informal education seminars will include information on eligibility for kidney and/or pancreas transplantation as well as updates regarding advances in transplant surgery and transplant medicine. Firsthand accounts from transplant recipients will provide program participants with the patient’s perspective. The programs are open to people who are interested in pursuing transplantation, already on a transplant waiting list or currently on dialysis. Attendees need not be current patients at Saint Barnabas or Newark Beth Israel Medical Centers.
Similar programs will be conducted at Newark Beth Israel and Saint Barnabas Medical Centers. On September 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. programs will be offered at the same time in English and Spanish in The Parsonnett-Danzis Auditorium at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, 201 Lyons Avenue at Osborne Terrace in Newark. On October 28, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. a program in English will be held in the Islami Auditorium at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, 94 Old Short Hills Road in Livingston.
According to Shamkant Mulgaonkar, M.D., Chief of the Renal Division for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, the sessions provide an essential outreach effort, educating individuals who may not be aware that renal transplantation is an option for them or the latest advances in the field.
“Our programs at Newark Beth Israel and Saint Barnabas Medical Centers form one of the largest programs among 240 in the country with more than 225 transplant surgeries performed each year, and more than 4,380 since 1968. Understandably, some people are under the impression that transplantation is experimental or new. In fact, patients find that once they learn about the surgery, our excellent survival rates, and, in general, educate themselves about what to expect, they often wish they had investigated the transplant option sooner. Transplantation remains the best treatment option for those with chronic kidney disease.”
The two-hour program will include a description of the transplant process and include success rates, financial considerations, technological advances, new medications and how the waiting list operates. Living donation, including donor/recipient matching, is also described. There is ample time for discussion.
Individuals who want to learn more about the transplant option, including those people already on a waiting list, are encouraged to attend one of the sessions. Registration is required. To register for the program at Newark Beth Israel, please call (973) 926-5639 and at Saint Barnabas, please call (973) 322-2285.
Since its inception 40 years ago, The Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division of Saint Barnabas Health Care System has remained a leader in the field and pioneered a series of medical firsts in New Jersey, among them, the first living donor kidney transplant program, pediatric nephrology and transplantation program, paired kidney exchange, program for incompatible transplantation, and robotic-assisted donor nephrectomy.
In 2006, Saint Barnabas created New Jersey’s first Living Donor Institute to promote living donation as the best transplant option for patients with chronic kidney disease. Through the Institute, our experienced team is able to forge new opportunities for people who want to donate a healthy kidney to someone in need of a kidney transplant. Programs offered include living- and emotionally-related kidney transplantation, living donor kidney exchange program, altruistic living donation and program for incompatible transplantation. For further information, visit www.barnabashealth.org.
Date : August 1, 2008
CONTACT: Samantha Anton (973) 322-5425
