Our program on September 17, 2020, featured Walker Lafleur of the Northwest Kidney Centers. Walker is an experienced Nurse Manager with fourteen years working in the hospital and health care industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse from Fortis College, Tampa, FL and is working on an MBA from Western Governors University. He came to Seattle in 2018 to be a manager at the Northwest Kidney Centers.
Founded in Seattle in 1962, Northwest Kidney Centers is the world’s first dialysis organization. They are the provider of choice because of “high quality services, community connections and generous donor support.” They provided 276,500 dialysis treatments last year, about a quarter of all dialysis treatments in the state, for nearly 1,800 patients who dialyze in one of their centers or at home with support.
Walker presented a really terrific program about kidney health–a topic important to all of us. Kidneys remove waste and excess water from the body and helps regulate blood pressure.
Walker told us that one in three Americans are at risk for kidney disease. It is estimated that 37 million Americans have kidney disease, but most don’t know that they do. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes. Other causes include cardiovascular disease, aging, urinary infections, HIV/AIDS, and IV drug use.
Particularly at risk are Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians. African-Americans are three times more likely to have kidney disease. People over 65 are 38 percent more likely.
Kidney disease costs the US $120 billion in 2017.
Signs of kidney disease include:
- Trouble sleeping,
- Low energy,
- Trouble concentrating,
- Dry, itchy skin,
- Frequent urge to urinate,
- Blood in the urine
- Eye puffiness,
- Swollen feet and ankles,
- Cramping, and
- Poor appetite.