Health and Fitness ? Congressman Sam Johnson visits Allen ...

ALLEN ? United States Representative Sam Johnson toured the Fresenius Medical Care Allen Dialysis Center on Aug. 11 to learn about kidney disease and see local residents providing and receiving life-saving dialysis treatments.

The visit was planned in part to honor Kidney Disease Awareness and Education Week, which is sponsored every August by the American Nephrology Nurses? Association as a way to educate policy makers about the needs of individuals with ? or at risk for ? end-stage renal disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is more common than most Americans realize ? one in nine adults has chronic kidney disease, but many do not know it and are not taking steps to protect their damaged kidneys from getting worse. According to the National Kidney Foundation, 31 million people have CKD and another 20 million are at increased risk of getting kidney disease because they have diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity or a family history of CKD.

?This was a great opportunity to have Congressman Johnson tour our facility and meet our patients,? said Laura Hart, clinical manager at Fresenius Medical Care Allen. ?He has been a strong advocate for quality kidney care. He was also interested in learning about how simple, inexpensive urine and blood tests can help detect kidney disease and encourages CKD prevention while reducing costs to the U.S. health care system,? she said.

African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and seniors older than 65 are at increased risk for the disease. As CKD progresses, it leads to kidney failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) which requires a kidney transplant or kidney dialysis to stay alive. Currently, 550,000 Americans receive dialysis, and health experts expect the number to double over the next ten years.

Texas ranks second in the U.S. for number of people with ESRD in its population. More than 9,100 new cases were reported in the U.S. Renal Data System?s 2010 report, a 34 percent increase in the last decade.

Fresenius Medical Care North America is the largest dialysis provider in the U.S., serving more than 135,000 patients in more than 1900 facilities. For information, visit http://www.fmcna.com.

Article source: http://www.scntx.com/articles/2011/08/31/allen_american/news/297.txt

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Source: http://medicaltips.biz/2011/09/01/congressman-sam-johnson-visits-allen-dialysis-center/

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