TRIO E-News
July 4th, 2020
Greetings!
TRIO wishes you and yours a fun, safe and healthy
4th of July holiday

Click on the Disney Park scene above to enjoy some beautiful fireworks!!
On this fun holiday TRIO is seeking your support in a unique way: to help gain patient feedback on our Post-transplant Cancer web site that is building out with new content and features. See the article below to find out how YOU can help us save lives in raising awareness of the increased risk of cancer after organ transplant.

YOUR feedback is critical to our overall success, so please share a few minutes to support this important project as we near completion.

Sincerely,
Jim Gleason
TRIO President
GleasonJim@aol.com
(609) 877-4493
New in-home blood draw service launched by CareDx

     In response to the COVID-19 crisis, CareDx launched RemoTraC: Home-based blood draws for transplant patients. RemoTraC is available to all patients who want their transplant monitoring lab tests to be drawn from the comfort of their home by trained mobile phlebotomists. RemoTraC includes AlloSure and/or AlloMap, CareDx's surveillance tests, along with a panel of routine tests.

    Patients can sign up for RemoTraC through an easy to use webpage: www.caredx.com/remotrac .

    Once enrolled in RemoTraC, a CareDx Patient Care Manager will coordinate with your transplant center and contact you by phone to schedule an appointment. Prior to the appointment, we will mail you a test kit. A licensed mobile technician will then come to your home, take a blood sample, and deliver the sample to the lab for processing. CareDx will fully cover the cost of the mobile phlebotomist, and will ensure you pay no additional out-of-pocket expenses beyond what you typically pay for these tests.

TRIO thanks CareDx for the many ways they support our mission.

Please
HELP TRIO in helping patients
with
your
feedback!
TRIO's multi-year Post-transplant Cancer education project (click image above to see that PTC web site) continues to add new content and features with the goal of saving lives by raising awareness of the increased cancer risk in transplant patients. NOW we can use your help to insure that the site is 'patient friendly' and effective.

What do we need of YOU?
We need a panel of patients & family to do a simple task: read assigned web site pages, then complete a short on-line questionnaire to give us feedback from your reading experience. Your response will be helping the world of patients that come and learn from this project, and while it isn't even advertised or promoted yet, over 250,000 hits have been recorded on the site, so interest is high and sorely needed.

Will you HELP with reading and responding taking just 15 minutes of your time?

Say YES by e-mailing your name and relationship to organ transplant (organ type, how long out, caregiver, other...) to:
and you will receive that assignment and survey link in reply.

The lives you will help saving "thank you in advance! "

After 20 years, is there finally light at the end of the tunnel?

Hear from Congressional and HHS Staff on the Current Status of the Immuno Bill during our Webinar! 
 
TRIO and the kidney and transplant communities have been fighting to extend Medicare’s coverage of immunosuppressive medications for kidney transplant patients for nearly 20 years. Now with a bill in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, a united community of advocates, and support from the Administration, we’ve never been closer to getting the Immuno Bill passed.
 
Join leaders from the American Society of Nephrology, the Honor the Gift coalition, the National Kidney Foundation, HHS, and Capitol Hill to discuss how together, we can FINISH THE FIGHT!
On June 17, 2020, the Transplant Research & Education Center launched the COVID-19 Kidney / Transplant Listening & Resource Center (KTLRC) (< click to learn more), a toll-free call center that allows patients, their loved ones, and caregivers to connect with our experienced education team to share their questions, concerns, and receive answers, education, and referrals for additional resources. The KTLRC was created in direct response to the unique and unmet needs of the dialysis and organ transplant community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Calls will be answered by staff trained in motivational interviewing and empathic communication, who are ready to answer questions about COVID-19 and transplant.

So, how do YOU fit in?
Researcher Grace Kim ( hmkim@mednet.ucla.edu ) reached out to TRIO looking to hear from the voices of the transplant communities (not just kidneys, but all others too) to help better their team's education and make a positive impact on patients, providers, and support systems alike. If you are interested in helping with your own story, their contact information is trec@mednet.ucla.edu or 1-800-830-0484.
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Couldn't join when those webinars were scheduled? You can still view them . . .

If you haven't experienced those posted virtual events listed in prior issues, try the following and see how enjoyable they can be at TRIO Transplant Presentation Library now with over 114 programs indexed by topic on our website: https://TRIOweb.org under RESOURCES .