In This January 2021 Issue TheKidneyHub.org: Now Helping Patients Make Better Food Choices End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) National Coordinating Center (NCC) Kicking Off the Year With New COVID-19 Webinar Series Events Mental Health Toolkit: Guidance for Those Who Care for Others Patient and Caregiver Journaling Resources Just in Time for the New Year Medical Relief Support—There’s a Grant for That! Coming Soon—ESRD NCC Resources Under Development Mark Your Calendar Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Releases ESRD Community COVID-19 After-Action Report and Improvement Plan

Patient and Family Engagement

TheKidneyHub.org: Now Helping Patient Make Better Food Choices The ESRD NCC introduces the new Diet and Nutrition section to TheKidneyHub.org! The Kidney Hub is a secure, mobile-friendly resource hub that patients can use to find important resources right from their smart devices. The resources and their authors include: Patient Tips for Healthy Living—ESRD Network 8 Dialysis Diet on a Budget—Dialysis Patient Citizens AAKP Nutrition Counter—American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) With the addition of the Diet and Nutrition section, the ESRD NCC hopes to assist kidney patients and their caregivers in making better informed food choices. Plus, more food and nutrition resources are in the works! Designed to be accessed from anywhere right from the home screen of your mobile-friendly device, patients can use resources on The Kidney Hub to learn about and plan their own care; and share them with friends, family members, and peers. Visit www.TheKidneyHub.org today from your smart device today!

ESRD NCC Kicking Off the Year with New COVID-19 Webinar Series Events The webinar series gives patients and healthcare providers insight into the status of the pandemic and presents conversations that focus on solutions about current issues. Each week the ESRD NCC collaborates with a healthcare organization or patient, to share their experiences from various perspectives and address key questions. Upcoming Webinar events include:  Recognizing and Managing Compassion Fatigue Should Patients With Chronic Renal Disease Get the Vaccine Against COVID-19? The mRNA COVID Vaccines and Healthcare Workers Register for upcoming webinars on the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as find recordings of past webinars at www.esrdncc.org/covid-19/covid-webinars/.

Mental Health Toolkit: Guidance for Those Who Care for Others The COVID-19 Mental Health Toolkit brings together a variety of ready-to-use resources and tools in one document. This toolkit can be used by any renal professional, including ESRD Networks, dialysis providers, and transplant programs. It contains ideas on how to increase awareness, build community capacity, incorporate telemedicine into patient care, and more. This resource is not intended to be given directly to patients, but instead to be used by professionals in their work.

Patient and Caregiver Journaling Resources Just in Time for the New Year Check out the new journaling resources created by the ESRD NCC. The journals were developed for patients, family members, and caregivers. Research shows journaling can: Boost your mood Enhance your sense of well-being Reduce symptoms of depressions The ESRD NCC journal resources allow patients and caregivers to print a pre-created journal template or download it on their mobile devices to journal electronically. There is also the option to journal in a notebook with prompts to help patients or caregivers get started. Visit https://esrdncc.org/en/patients/ and select the Mental Health/Well Being drop-down option to access the journal.

Medical Relief Support—There’s a Grant for That The Patient Grant Library offers funding resource opportunities to support patients with medical relief support for different diseases and conditions. Visit the Emergency Grants section and click on Medical Relief for more information. Do you have a grant opportunity you would like to share with the Patient Grant Library? E-mail your suggestion to nccinfo@hsag.com.

Coming Soon—ESRD NCC Resources Under Development Here are a few items we are creating for you: You Fluid Intake Matters! Kidney-friendly Grocery Store Shopping Hospital Discharge Checklist My Care, My Plan Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) Meeting – Because Your Voice Matters My Dialysis Travel Checklist

Mark Your Calendar

Visit the ESRD NCC Events webpage for additional meetings and events information. January 1–31, National Blood Donor Month  According to the American Red Cross, winter is one of the most difficult times of the year to collect enough blood products to meet patient needs. To help meet the demand, the Red Cross urges people to share their good health and give blood regularly, beginning in January with National Blood Donor Month. For detailed donor eligibility questions, call 1.800.RED CROSS (1.800.733.2767) or visit www.redcrossblood.org/.     January 1–31, Glaucoma Awareness Month  January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month, an important time to spread the word about this sight-stealing disease. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, the disease is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Over 3 million Americans have glaucoma and experts estimate half of them don’t know they have it.

KCER Releases ESRD Community COVID-19 After-Action Report and Improvement Plan COVID-19 is a respiratory virus that has significantly impacted the United States. People with chronic health conditions like ESRD have an increased risk if they develop the disease. To give an overview of the impact of the virus on the ESRD community, KCER published the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Community COVID-19 After-Action Report and Improvement Plan in November 2020. The report identifies and documents how the ESRD community operated through the COVID-19 pandemic. It also looks at key issues, challenges, and best practices. The report aims to educate the public on the overall ESRD community response to the pandemic and preparations being made for future issues related to COVID-19.

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This material was prepared the End Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center (ESRD NCC) contractor, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy nor imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. FL-ESRD NCC-7N59TC-01082021-01