Some 65 kidney transplant recipients have volunteered to join the Did You Know outreach campaign. These patient ambassadors are traveling with the transplant team to dialysis centers throughout the state to share the changes that organ transplantation has brought to their lives.
Representing a range of ages and races these men and women are proving to be a powerful resource for teaching others about transplantation. The professionals can present the medical facts, but it is the ambassadors who speak from the heart about their personal experience.
“I wish someone had come to me with this kind of firsthand information during my nine years of dialysis treatments,” says Tom Richvalsky, kidney recipient and volunteer ambassador from Clifton, N.J. “Lots of people think that dialysis is as good as it gets. I want to let them know that life gets better with a transplant."
Following a short training session that prepares them to greet and talk with people who may be hearing about kidney transplantation for the first time, the ambassadors speak to small groups and individuals. With such a large and diverse group of ambassadors, the campaign is able to match inquiring dialysis patients with volunteers who share similar backgrounds and interests.
Physicians and dialysis staff can link patients with end stage renal disease with appropriate volunteers for telephone support by calling the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Transplant Center at (973) 926-7867 or the Saint Barnabas Medical Center Transplant Center at (973) 322-8988.
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