Aims of the Living Kidney Donor Programme
Provide accurate information in regards to all aspects of living kidney donation.
Provide practical support to those contemplating or undergoing kidney donor work up through our living kidney donor support volunteer programme.
Increase awareness of the benefits of living kidney donation to both recipient and donor.
Act as an advocate for living kidney donors.
Fundraise to cover out of pocket expenses and raise awareness of costs incurred currently by living kidney donors.
Practical support programme
A group of living kidney donors from Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) working in conjunction with its renal transplant team to provide accurate information and support to potential kidney donors, those undergoing kidney donor work up and those who are in the post operative phase and beyond.
Insider personal knowledge can prove invaluable with any major decisions in life and hence the donor support volunteer programme has been set up by kidney donors to provide practical support and insights into their own personal experience of kidney donation.
The living kidney donor support volunteers at RNSH along with the clinical nurse consultants at the Renal Unit have set up a programme whereby patients (both potential kidney donors and recipients) can meet the volunteers on an informal basis at the Treatment Options Workshop for those with chronic kidney disease and also the Transplant workshops.
Fundraising
The initial phase of fundraising is ensure financial support is available for living kidney donors who require it. Fundraising aims to cover both the local financial needs of our living kidney donors at RNSH but also the financial infrastructure to promote the needs of living kidney donors nationwide.
Where does it go:
While the government covers costs for a number of the tests and the operation and hospital stay, it is acknowledged that there are often additional unseen costs such as : loss of income while off work through the workup, the operation and recovery, parking, petrol and toll roads.
In addition, donors that come from outside of Sydney have additional out of pocket expenses in endeavouring to access to local accommodation which due to the geography of RNSH is currently expensive.
Overseas donors including those with reciprocal health agreements currently have additional costs of flights, accommodation and baseline tests to be done and paid for by themselves in their home country.
The aim of living kidney is to raise money to help in the above situations in order that the kidney donor can focus on their donation and not be concerned about financial hardship.
Royal North Shore’s Recognition Day
RNSH’s renal transplant unit is indebted to the living kidney donors that have given so generously to their recipient. In order to formally acknowledge their sacrifice, the unit will hold a ceremony once every 2 years to publicly recognise those donors from that time period.
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