American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN)

The mission of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology is to promote the appropriate application of new and existing procedures in order to improve the care of patients with kidney disease.

The American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology was founded in 2000 to promote the proper application of new and existing procedures in the practice of nephrology with the goal of improving the care of nephrology patients.

Health Literacy

In 2008, the Network of New England partnered with the National Kidney Foundation of Connecticut, Inc. to educate dialysis providers about the importance of health literacy.

Health Literacy Month, celebrated each October, is a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of understandable health information. This month is a time for all health literacy advocates to let the world know why health literacy matters.

To learn more about Health Literacy, go to www.healthliteracy.com, or email Helen Osborne at helen@healthliteracy.com or call 508-653-1199.

5 Diamond Patient Safety Program

In April 2008, the ESRD Network of New England (Network 1), in collaboration with Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition (Network 5) announced the 5-Diamond Patient Safety Program to assist dialysis facilities with the improvement of both staff and patient awareness of specific patient safety areas.

National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation, a major voluntary nonprofit health organization, is dedicated to preventing kidney and urinary tract diseases, improving the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by kidney disease and increasing the availability of all organs for transplantation.

New England Donor Designation Collaborative
(Donate Life New England Website)

In 2005, a regional committe was organized to help achieve the Donate Life America goal of registering 1 million organ, eye and tissue donors nationwide. Partners in the New England Donor Designation Colloborative are:

• CT Eye Bank
• Department of Motor Vehicles (CT & MA)
• Donate Life Connecticut
• ESRD Network of New England
• LifeChoice Donor Services
• New England Organ Bank

This initiative fostered the development of the online registery, Donate Life New England, which offers a way to securely and confidentially register as an organ, eye and tissue donor and join over 80 million Americans who have already made the decision to Donate Life!

The Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs is a new public-private partnership that will help improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans.

The Partnership for Patients brings together leaders of major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses, and patient advocates along with state and federal governments in a shared effort to make hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly.

Workplace Partnership for Life

In 2001, HHS launched the Gift of Life Donation Initiative. One of the strategies in this initiative is the Workplace Partnership for Life, a collaboration where companies and employee groups of all sizes pledge to make information on donation available to employees. Over the years, several major national corporations have become registered members of the Workplace Partnership such as Bank of America, MetLife, Baxter Healthcare and Verizon. Currently, there are well over 12,000 partners enrolled.

In April 2005, the ESRD Network of New England enrolled as a member and made a commitement to educate their staff and community partners about the importance of organ and tissue donation and becoming a registered donor.

As of 1/13/2009, there are 100,485 candidates on the waiting list. The challenge is to get all ESRD Networks enrolled.