Category : ACTION

Are you an African, Caribbean or Black person with kidney disease or who is taking care of someone with kidney disease? Are you a kidney transplant recipient, a living kidney donor, or thinking about transplant or donation? SHARE YOUR STORY! We want to hear from you. Sign up for a 60-minute phone call to tell us how we can make sure African, Caribbean and Black communities have the chance to learn about options for treating kidney failure, including living donor […]

Introduction From a medical perspective, living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is the preferred treatment option for eligible patients with end stage kidney disease (ESKD). Access to LDKT is lower for patients from populations marginalized by race and ethnicity in Canada compared to White patients. However, few interventions have been carried out to improve equitable access to LDKT for these populations. The A.C.T.I.O.N. project, led by the Centre for Living Organ Donation at University Health Network and Providence Health Care Research […]

For the thousands of Canadians experiencing end-stage kidney disease, a new kidney would mean a new lease on life. Kidney transplantation started in the 1950s and became routine in the 1960s. Toronto General Hospital, home to Canada’s largest kidney transplant program, has done over 5,000 kidney transplants since 1966, 1,600 of which were from live donors. Of the options available to patients experiencing end-stage kidney disease, a living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) is the preferred treatment option for eligible patients […]

After receiving sign off from our Community Advisory Committee, the Project Steering Committee for A.C.T.I.O.N. presented the emerging themes from year one of the project to the National Project Partner’s Committee. This initial phase involved engagement of patients and community members to gain feedback on their overall healthcare experience and experiences specifically related to living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). Given that A.C.T.I.O.N. is a community driven project, sign off from the Community Advisory Committee was essential before presenting these initial […]

After launching in the fall of last year, the A.C.T.I.O.N. project is nearing the completion of year one, focusing on the engagement of patients and community members to gain feedback on their overall healthcare experience and experiences specifically related to living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting racialized communities in Canada and the U.S., exacerbating health equity issues that have gone unaddressed for far too long. The work of the A.C.T.I.O.N. project feels especially significant in this context. […]

Our February Lunch & Learn – Addressing Racial & Cultural Barriers in Living Kidney Donation & Transplantation – started with the lived experience of patient partner, Carl Hicks, a kidney transplant recipient. Following Mr. Hicks, Dr. Istvan Mucsi, Lydia-Joi Marshall and Noor El-Dassouki discussed racial inequities in access to living kidney donation and transplantation – examining both statistics and patient experiences. The importance of community-led research was highlighted by Lydia-Joi Marshall, a co-investigator for the A.C.T.I.O.N. Project.