Archives
Outreach Efforts – Fall 2018
10/13/2018 – Members from the UNC Kidney Center educated and screened approximately 20 residents in Hope Mills in early October. Hope Mills is a small community within Cumberland County with a population of approximately 15,176 individuals. A large proportion of this group consists of people over the age of 60, and also the disabled, homeless, etc. 
After experiencing Hurricane Florence, Hope Mills has been in need of support to raise awareness of health and social services for all residents, particularly senior citizens living in the area. First Baptist Church of Hope Mills hosted the Health Fair to help support this effort, while Dr. Keisha Gibson, Jill Powell and a few UNC undergraduate volunteers offered education and kidney screening services to this community.
10/10/2018 – KEOP volunteered at Project Connect in Chapel Hill on October 10. This event is a one-day, annual event that connects health and community organizations with community members who are experiencing, or at risk of homelessness, with a broad range of short and long-term services. We spent the day educating and talking to individuals who had questions about their risk for kidney disease, while screening close to 20 people throughout the day. Participants were eager to learn ways they could keep their kidneys healthy and very thankful to be able to receive their screening results right away.
09/08/2018 – KEOP was invited to and participated in the Annual Community Health Fair at St. Peter Church of Christ in Kinston, NC, for the second year in a row. The goal of the event was for the community of Kinston to become aware of medical health concerns and screenings. The event was held at the church and several key community organizations were in attendance. This health fair always has a wonderful turnout and we are continually welcomed with open arms each year. The KEOP group screened over 30 community members, and Dr. Kshirsagar was able to counsel each participant that came through our kidney screening, regardless of their screening result. This education is key to increasing awareness of kidney disease and making efforts to keep kidneys healthy. Dr. Kshirsagar educated each participant about keeping their blood pressure under control, monitoring their sugar, and managing their medications and asking how they may be affecting the kidneys.
Thank you St. Peter Church of Christ and the community members of Lenoir County for having us! We enjoy bringing education and awareness to your community and look forward to seeing you next year! We will follow up with those screened in a few months to collect additional information, and learn how we can best make an impact in your community! Special thanks to Dr. Kshirsagar, Beth Braxton, Lana Amend, and undergraduate student Aneesh Agarwal, for volunteering their day and helping to make this a successful event!
Outreach Efforts – May 2017
05/31/2017 – The KEOP visited the Greene County Senior Center Health Fair in May. We connected with several people in the community focused on improving the health of those in Greene County. We passed out several educational brochures related to CKD, and CKD and diabetes and chatted with several community members directly affected by kidney disease.
Thank you Greene County Senior Center for having us!
05/18/2017 – We attended a UNC Men’s baseball game and interacted with several people who had personal experience with chronic kidney disease and/or diabetes. It was a great opportunity to speak with people and offer some education about kidney disease before they enjoyed the baseball game.
