August Advocate Meetings Ensure Congress Hears Kidney Patients Loud and Clear

For the second August in a row, newer members of the Voices for Kidney Health advocate community from across the country met with their federal lawmakers and urged them to support our legislative agenda and the kidney patients that they represent in Congress.

In Kansas, Elizabeth Fulton met in-person with Rep. Sharice Davids (KS-3) to thank her for recently agreeing to cosponsor our federal Living Donor Protection Act, and to encourage her to further show her support for kidney patients like Elizabeth by also cosponsoring our Improving Access to Home Dialysis Act. They also discussed the possibility of collaborating on a kidney health education presentation for residents in the district, to help raise awareness around the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

In New York, Elaine Pearlman had the unique opportunity to thank her congressman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, for being one of the original sponsors of our LDPA legislation, and to share more about how both she and her son made the decision to step up and become living donors themselves. She also explained how doing so had made her a firm believer in doing everything possible to improve quality of life for kidney patients, and why she felt it was important to also expand access to home dialysis for those patients that want to make use of it.

Showing Grassroots Support for Kidney Policy Progress

In Florida, Kam Shenai shared with staff in Rep. Darren Soto’s office his experience as an in-center hemodialysis patient, and how he took note of his fellow patients who would sometimes stop showing up for their treatments, and how he would grow concerned about what had happened to them. He noted how passing the LDPA and encouraging more living donors to step forward would be a boon to patients on the waitlist, like him and his fellow dialysis patients, who hold out hope that someone will help them receive the gift of life.

Other advocates who held meetings with their representatives and shared their powerful kidney stories include:

• Jim Brown met with Rep. Greg Pence’s office (IN-6)
• Carole Davenport and Janine Reed met with Rep. Peter Meijer’s office (MI-3)
• Molly Fashola met with Rep. Bob Good’s office (VA-5)
• Susan Finelli met with Rep. Carole Maloney’s office (NY-12)
• Alision Gillespie and Shannon Glynn met with Rep. Betty McCollum’s office (MN-4)
• Susan Lee met with Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s office (NY-7)
• Nancy Marlin met with Rep. Sara Jacobs’s office (CA-53)
• Kim Muller is meeting with Rep. Ted Lieu’s office (CA-33)
• Michael Nolan met with Rep. Marie Newman’s office (IL-2)
• Lanie Peterson met with Rep. Buddy Carter (GA-1)
• Aran Rice met with Rep. Joe Neguse’s office (CO-2)
• Melissa Tolzien met with Rep. Tracey Mann’s office (KS-1)

If you’re interested in scheduling a meeting with your federal representative, please reach out to NKF Government Relations staff. We look forward to hearing and sharing your story.