LUTHERVILLE, Md. — The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) and the National Kidney Foundation Serving Maryland & Delaware (NKF-MDDE) will partner to educate and raise awareness about living kidney donation and transplantation.
The two organizations will co-host The Big Ask: The Big Give on Sunday, September 16, 2018 from noon to 5 p.m. at the University of Maryland Southern Management Campus Center at 621 West Lombard Street in Baltimore City.
This free four-hour workshop is designed to help waitlisted kidney patients find a living donor. Specifically, it will teach kidney patients, families and friends how to: Find a living kidney donor; Educate family and friends about living donor kidney transplant; and Tell your story through social media outlets and other channels.
“Due to the worldwide shortage of organs for kidney transplant recipients, the option of living donation is a solution for a large number of patients,” said Dr. Rolf Barth, head of the Division of Transplantation at the University of Maryland Medical Center, which has been a leader in the development of living donor transplantation for over 20 years. “At this workshop we will discuss the living donor transplant process and debunk some common myths about organ donation.”
Currently, there are 2,712 Marylanders waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant and 9,300 who are on dialysis.
“For people with kidney disease, asking someone to consider donating a kidney can seem impossible. Many won’t get a transplant because they don’t know how to ask or are uncomfortable with asking,” said Pattie Dash, executive director of the National Kidney Foundation office Serving Maryland and Delaware. “We are giving the tools to start a life-saving conversation.”
Admission to The Big Ask: The Big Give is free with complimentary parking and lunch starting at 11:30 a.m. Registration is required by visiting kidney.org/ummcbigaskbiggive.