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    1. About Kidney Disease
      1. OVERVIEW
      2. Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease
      3. Kidney Disease Stages
      4. What Is a Nephrologist?
      5. What to Expect with CKD
      6. Kidney Disease Management
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      8. How Kidneys Work
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      2. Dialysis Basics
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      7. In-Center Hemodialysis
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      9. Insurance & Managing Costs
      10. Choosing Not to Treat
    3. Life On Dialysis
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    Find a Dialysis Center

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      1. About Kidney Disease
        1. Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease
          1. Symptoms
          2. Risk Factors
          3. Causes
          4. Diagnosis and Testing
          5. GFR Calculator
        2. Kidney Disease Stages
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          5. Stage 5
        3. What Is a Nephrologist?
        4. What to Expect with CKD
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          1. Kidney Diet Basics
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          5. High Blood Pressure
        6. Understanding Acute Kidney Injury
          1. Acute Kidney Injury Treatment and Recovery
        7. How Kidneys Work
        8. Take a FREE CLASS on Kidney Disease
      2. Treatments
        1. Dialysis Basics
          1. How Does a Hemodialysis Machine Work
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          4. Your Care Plan
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          6. Monitoring Your Lab Results
        2. Benefits of Home Dialysis
        3. Home Peritoneal Dialysis
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        4. Home Hemodialysis
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        5. Sign up to Talk to a Home Dialysis Expert
        6. In-Center Hemodialysis
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          2. What to Expect
          3. Types of Vascular Access for Hemodialysis
          4. Your Care Team
          5. How to Choose a Center
        7. Transplant
          1. Finding a Kidney Donor
          2. Considering Kidney Donation
        8. Insurance & Managing Costs
          1. Understanding Medicare Coverage
          2. Understanding Medicare Advantage
          3. Understanding Employer Plans
        9. Choosing Not to Treat
      3. Life On Dialysis
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      4. Recipes & Nutrition
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          1. Eating Well on a CKD Diet
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          3. Salt and Kidney Disease
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          5. Phosphorus and Kidney Disease
          6. Talking With Your Dietitian
        3. Fluid Management on Dialysis
        4. Dialysis Diet Planning
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          4. A Chef’s Advice | Chef Aaron McCargo on Kidney Friendly Meals
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      4. FMCNA Emergency Response Plans Ensure Dialysis Treatment Access

      FMCNA Emergency Response Plans Ensure Access to Dialysis Treatments

      Company Offers Tips to Help Patients Prepare for Severe Winter Storms

       

      WALTHAM, Mass. – Dec. 15, 2014 – Weather forecasters aren’t expecting another “Polar Vortex” to create widespread sub-zero temperatures across the United States this winter. But they are expecting a weak “El Nino” ocean-warming pattern over the eastern Pacific Ocean to contribute to above-average precipitation across the southern and eastern states, as well as colder-than average temperatures along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast.

      When severe weather hits, access to treatment can be a matter of life and death for dialysis patients, who require life-sustaining treatment typically three times a week to remove waste products and extra fluids from their blood after their kidneys have failed.

      In anticipation of the coming winter’s blizzards, flooding and other weather-related emergencies, some of which could potentially interrupt treatments for its more than 174,000 North American dialysis patients, Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), continues to update and refine its extensive disaster-response plans. FMCNA, the nation’s leading network of dialysis facilities, works closely throughout the year with local governments and community organizations such as the Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Coalition to ensure that patients will be able to continue receiving uninterrupted treatments, medical supplies, medicines and lab services during emergencies.

      To ensure that the needs of both patients and FMCNA clinical staff are met in times of emergency, the company’s Incident Command Team maintains a fleet of fully-equipped recreational vehicles and tractor trailers, as well as generators, fuel, food and medical supplies that can be quickly deployed following a natural disaster. It also activates an Emergency Hotline during disasters to help affected patients with emergency plans or information on arranging treatment at alternate facilities.

      “Our emergency response plans have helped thousands of Fresenius Medical Care patients and staff prepare for, and successfully weather the impacts of hurricanes, floods, tornados and the most severe winter storms,” said Bill Numbers, FMCNA senior vice president of operations shared services and incident commander for disaster response and planning. “Our ultimate goal is always to ensure our patients’ welfare, even in the most difficult circumstances.”

      Weathering Winter Emergencies

      FMCNA recommends that dialysis patients prepare for winter storms and weather emergencies with:          

      Planning:  Create a disaster preparedness plan ahead of time with your dialysis care team and family.

      Contacts:  Keep a list of emergency contacts and personal information with you at all times, including ID, insurance, type of dialysis treatment you’re on and a list of medications and allergies.

      Forecasts:  Monitor local weather forecasts, and be in touch with your dialysis facility when bad weather threatens.

      Supplies:  Pre-pack a bag with first-aid kit, flashlight and batteries, blankets, radio, cell phone and medications.

      Food:  Store three days of food that is compliant with your dialysis diet.

      Transport:  Arrange backup transport (for in-center dialysis patients) to your treatment clinic with friends, neighbors or family members.

      Training:  Review the directions given during training (for home dialysis patients) on how to continue dialysis when the power is out.

      Insulin:  Adjust insulin dosage (for diabetics) as directed by a doctor if severe storms or flooding are imminent.

      Patients seeking emergency help should call FMCNA’s toll-free Patient Emergency Hotline (activated during disasters) at: 1-800-626-1297.

       

      About Fresenius Medical Care North America

      Through its leading network of more than 2,150 dialysis facilities in North America and vascular access centers, laboratory, pharmacy and affiliated hospitals and nephrology practices, Fresenius Medical Care provides renal services to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is also the continent’s top producer of dialysis equipment, dialyzers and related disposable products and a major supplier of renal pharmaceuticals.
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