Local Chapter News

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CNSW | CRN

Council of Nephrology Social Workers

Regions I and V

Chapters in Regions 1 and 5 continue to recruit for new members who are eager to engage with their fellow nephrology social workers and develop innovative continuing education events.  The Pacific Northwest Chapter is holding virtual conferences twice a year, with plans underway for a late fall conference. Details will be announced soon. The Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts chapter is holding monthly calls with the state transportation provider in an effort to improve transportation services to Rhode Islanders on dialysis. Please contact your local chapter to find out what events are taking place or what help they may need.

 

Regions II and IV

There are no updates from the Chapters' chairs for Region II and Region IV.

 

Region III

Kansas and Western Missouri Chapter: Our chapter had a check-in meeting with local social workers in June to find out how they were doing and to see what our chapter could do to better meet their needs. Although the attendance was limited on this Zoom call, we were able to help orient a new social worker and share ideas about how to help patients who were having difficulty with transportation and the cost of gas to/from dialysis. We plan to hold more regular check-in Zoom meetings (no CEUs) and are thinking about our next educational meeting which we expect to schedule for late spring 2023. That meeting could be virtual, in-person, or a hybrid depending on COVID.

On September 27, our chapter held a Zoom meeting. We were excited to not only have registrants from KS and MO but also from AL, DC, LA, MA, MD, MN, RI, TN, TX and even Canada.

Our first speaker was Tanya Kearney, LCSW, long-time dialysis social worker at DCI, who shared a resource manual and offered tips for using clinic and community resources. All registrants received a copy of the manual in PDF and in Word for editing to include local resources. Tanya also shared tips for working with dialysis patients and the dialysis team including knowing who your client is, using clinic policies to advocate to meet your clients’ needs, and taking care of yourself, avoiding burnout, and taking advantage of peer support.

Our second speaker was Pattie Draper, LCSW who works for the national nonprofit Gift of Life and is the national director of their Transplant Mentor’s Program. Pattie talked with us about Gift of Life’s mission and vision as well as the goals of the mentoring program. She described the characteristics of a good mentor, referral of mentors and how someone can become a mentor, mentor training, and who their mentors work with including candidates, recipients, living donors, and care partners. She shared kudos from mentors and mentees and told us about “Transplant Talks” webinars that can be found on YouTube. She shared her experience working with transplant candidates, recipients and their families and offered tips for how to help patients through the transplant process. You can learn about Gift of Life at https://giftdonor.org. If you have a dialysis patient awaiting transplant or a transplant recipient who could use a mentor, learn more at https://giftdonor.org/programs/transplant-mentors/.

Nebraska Chapter: On August 5, 2022, the group met at DaVita Cornhusker Dialysis in Bellevue, NE. Zoom was offered to members unable to attend in person. We discussed a variety of topics, including social work license reciprocity in different states and what that would look like for a practitioner. Much of our discussion was about information sharing within the group. We are going to develop a Google Docs file giving each member the capability to upload handouts and other general information relevant to our work. We plan to invite the kidney transplant team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center to the next meeting for program updates and to assist our newer dialysis social workers. The next meeting will be held on November 4, 2022, at the Dialysis Center of Lincoln in Lincoln, NE.

Wisconsin Chapter: CNSW-WI met in October. Our Symposium for SW and RD will be held on November 10. This is an all-day conference for RD and SW. We have new staff in the NKF- WI office and are working closely with them to get educational programs for CNSW.

Upper Midwest Chapter:  A Networking/Planning meeting was held in August.  We plan to hold a series of meetings regarding Cultural Awareness, with a diverse group of representatives. The theme for our first meeting is Cultural Humility. We will offer participation by both Zoom and in-person.

 

Council on Renal Nutrition

Check back later for updates