UMMC and NKF Team for Living Kidney Donation Workshop, Nov. 10

LUTHERVILLE, Md. –The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) and the National Kidney Foundation Serving Maryland & Delaware (NKFMDDE) 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, Sunday, Nov. 10, from 1 to 5 p.m., at the University of Maryland Southern Management Campus Center – Ballroom A (621 West Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21201).

This free 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
• Tell their 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," Dr. Barth added.

Overall, the list of people awaiting kidney transplants is growing. There are now 120,000 Americans on the kidney transplant waiting list: up from 19,095 in 1989. 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 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 noon. Registration is required by visiting http://bit.ly/UMMCBigAskBigGiv.... For more information, contact call 410.494.8545 or email pattie.dash@kidney.org.

About the University of Maryland Medical Center
The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) comprises two hospitals in Baltimore: an 800-bed teaching hospital — the flagship institution of the 12-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) — and a 200-bed community teaching hospital, UMMC Midtown Campus. UMMC is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, Eurocard, cardiac care, diabetes and endocrinology, women's and children's health, and has one of the largest solid organ transplant programs in the country. For more information, visit www.umm.edu.

About NKF
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive and longstanding organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease. For more information, visit www.kidney.org.