Health workers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, are offering resources to churches and attending family reunions this spring to reach Black D.C. residents affected by kidney disease.
The nation’s capital has the highest rate of kidney disease in the nation, mostly among Black residents in Southeast D.C., said Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH.
Throughout March, which is Kidney Awareness Month, NIH workers will deliver health care guides to churches and at family reunions. The guides offer information on kidney disease and how to get tested.
The NIH website outlines how “you don’t need to be an expert to be a kidney champion for your faith community. There are simple things you can do to get involved.”
Rodgers said the NIH is always reaching out to church communities, but will extend its efforts to families directly as the weather warms up.
“We know that people get most of their reliable information from churches,” Rodgers said. “And we know that as the spring and summer come up, people tend to get together with their families at picnics. And if you have someone in the family with kidney disease, that means other members are at risk.”
The kidneys filter water and remove waste from the body. They also produce hormones responsible for healthy bones and red blood cell development.
“The kidneys really are a workhorse,” Rodgers said. “They do quite a bit.”
Black Americans nationwide struggle with kidney disease because they have high rates of diabetes and high blood pressure, which impact the kidneys — causing them to fail, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
But in D.C., Black residents are at a 44 times higher risk of developing kidney disease, said Rodgers.
He tells patients that a healthy lifestyle, including exercise, eating right, adequate sleep and no smoking, can stave off kidney disease, adding that getting tested before symptoms like nausea, muscle cramps and loss of appetite appear is key.
“You first have to know that you have it,” Rodgers said. “Make sure when you see your health care professional if you’ve been tested. If not, make sure that you get tested.”