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The National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee, Inc. is a 501(c)3
not-for-profit health organization.
Our Mission and Goals
Mission Statement:
The mission of the National Kidney Foundation is
to enhance the lives of everyone with, at risk of or affected
by kidney disease.
From the beginning, the Foundation's purpose in East Tennessee was to help the many victims of kidney disease. Education efforts quickly followed, to help people understand the disease and its early warning signs. Since then, thousands of individual patients have been helped and hundreds of thousands of brochures have been distributed to the public.
Our History
The National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee dates back to April 15, 1970 when a meeting was held at Ft. Sanders Presbyterian Hospital to form a Knoxville Chapter of the Kidney Foundation of Tennessee. Two years later, the National Kidney Foundation decided to break the Tennessee affiliate into three parts, and the NKFET was born.
Things were very different in those days. A person living in Knoxville whose kidneys failed had to travel to Nashville for dialysis. A clinic wasn't available in the area until 1974. Today, there are dozens of clinics in East Tennessee, not including those at hospitals.
Who We Are
The National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee is operated primarily
by a limited staff of 11 people. Below are listed the staff who
make the East Tennessee Affiliate as great as it is today, helping
so many in the East Tennessee region:
Helen Harb, Chief Executive Officer
Email: helen@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: November, 1992
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Jamie Gray, Northeast Director
Email: jamiegray1@comcast.net
Joined the NKF of ET: August, 1999
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Juliann Walton, Part-time Executive Secretary
Email: juliann@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: June, 2000
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Cindy Lipps, Kidney Cars Coordinator / Office Administrator
Email: cindy@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: April, 2005
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Allyson Geyer, Education Coordinator
Email: allyson@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: October, 2006
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Danae Miley, Patient Services Coordinator
Email: danae@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: October, 2006
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Cindy Elder, Part-Time Program Assistant
Email: cindyelder@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: October, 2006
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Mickey White, Development Coordinator
Email: mickey@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: August, 2007
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Carol Clotfelter, CFRE, Development Coordinator
Email: carol@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: August, 2007
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Lark Ryan, Book Keeper
Email: lark@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: December, 2007
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Charles Schopmann, Kidney Cars Assistant
Email: charles@kidneyetn.org
Joined the NKF of ET: March, 2008
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Not just a bunch of Beautiful Faces!
Click to view our
Who We Serve
The local affiliate of the National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee was organized in 1970 to help those in our area, a 34-county region, battling kidney disease. We are the major health agency devoted exclusively to kidney disease.
Click on the picture below to access our list of counties served by the NKF of ET!
Providing services to patients is one of the major goals of the NKF of ET. Through the local Patient Services Committee and the staff, the needs of kidney patients are assessed and programs are developed to address their needs and concerns. Patient services are a very visible and personal way of communicating that the National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee cares. In East Tennessee, over 2,500 people have to take dialysis treatments to stay alive. Many more are at risk. More than $100,000 will be spent this year helping patients with programs including the ID jewelry program, the Transportation and Emergency Assistance programs, and social events including the annual Patient Picnic. And those dollars don't even include the brochures, newsletters and educational opportunities given to patients in the area.
The NKF's ultimate hope is to eradicate kidney disease altogether!
Until that time arrives, patients need services and support, and
The National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee will be there to
help in any way possible.
What we do
PATIENT SERVICES
The many Patient Services programs of our Affiliate assist hundreds
of men, women and children each month with much needed assistance.
These services include Transportation,
Nutritional supplements,
ID jewelry,
Dental assistance,
Patient Picnic,
Transplant Games
and much more.
EDUCATION (See more on education here.)
Each year, the Education and Community Services programs completes
hundreds of presentations and health fairs. Speakers travel to classrooms
across East Tennessee to speak with students, or speak to civic
clubs and other groups. Health fairs provide a chance to put thousands
of pieces of literature into the hands of those with questions about
kidney disease. The KEEP program provides screening and helps people
learn if they have early stages of kidney disease. If kidney
disease is caught , it can often be delayed
or avoided.
THE FUTURE
PROBLEMS ON THE HORIZON - Before the 1960s, anyone whose kidneys failed simply died. Today, people can live for many years on dialysis and each year, more and more people receive transplants. But, there are difficulties ahead, even with the advances of medicine.
• The number of people getting kidney disease is growing. It's not just that people are living longer. The problem is the number of persons out of a thousand whose kidneys will fail this year has more than doubled from the rate in the late 1980s. Some of this is the result of the growing problem of diabetes that often leads to kidney disease. Some is the result of the aging population in the US.
• Kidney failure is expensive, costing more each year. Medicare was expected to spend $15 billion in 1995 on people whose kidneys have failed. Some sources say it takes $50,000-to-$70,000 to keep people on dialysis alive each year. And, while only 0.6 percent of those on Medicare have kidney failure, more than 5 percent of Medicare's funding goes to treat them.
SOLUTIONS
While the National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee will always strive to help those with kidney disease, that's not enough. Education is becoming even more important. There are several key messages that must be carried.
• Organ donation is essential. The quality of life is usually better for those with transplants than for those on dialysis. But, there aren't enough transplants to go ahead. The Foundation must continue its efforts to encourage donation.
• People need to find out early if they are at risk. Very often, those who will develop serious kidney disease can slow it or avoid it entirely. This message is even more important among most minority communities, since they have even higher rates of kidney disease.
• Research must continue. Part of the money collected by every Kidney Foundation affiliate in the nation goes towards research.
Accolades
The National Kidney Foundation of East Tennessee was recently given five awards
by our National office for excellence in the following:
Health Policy Development - for our public policy initiatives regarding the passing of Senate Bill No. 521 and House Bill No. 368 and for partnering with the Middle and West TN affiliates on the statewide nutrition supplement grant.
Patient and Community Services - for our Patient Services Programs
Public Education - for our school education programs, KEEPs and our website.
Fundraising - for our Kidney Cars Program
Professional Education - for our 19th Annual Renal Symposium
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Worth Magazine ranked the NKF a "Top 100 Charity!"
Specifically, they ranked the National Kidney Foundation one
of the top health-based charities. |
The NKF of ET was selected out of the 50 NKF affiliates across the
country to receive an Affiliate Award for Comprehensive Excellence
in Patient and Community Services. Way to go NKFET!
| Our website was selected as
a featured site in Lightspan's StudyWeb® as one
of the best educational resources on the Web.
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The NKF received an impressive
"A" rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy
based on level of fund raising cost and percentage of donations
(the highest grade given)! For the esteemed group who made
A's, they successfully managed their way to the top ranks
of all non-profit institutions! |
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Congratulations National Kidney Foundation!
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