Illinois Kidney Care Alliance reaches thirty members amid COVID concerns

As the need for awareness of kidney disease and its impact increases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Kidney Care Alliance (IKCA) today announced that Dialysis Care Center and Kidney Care Center have joined the Alliance, bringing the group’s total number to 30 organizations.

Since its founding in February 2020, IKCA has served as the premier coalition of health advocates and professionals, community and patient groups, providers and businesses advocating for Illinois kidney patients and their families.

The members of IKCA now include:

Alivio Medical Center
American Kidney Fund
American Renal Associates
Associates in Nephrology
Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition
Chicago Urban League
Chronic Disease Coalition
Corazon Community Services
Cornerstone Community
Development Corporation
DaVita
Dialysis Care Center
Dialysis Patients Citizens
Fresenius Medical Care
Gift of Hope
Healthy Illinois
Healthy Living with a Vision
Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Public Health Association
Instituto Del Progresso Latino
Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation
Kidney Care Center
Memorial Medical Center
Nephrology Associates of Northern
Illinois and Indiana
National Kidney Foundation of Illinois
One Health Englewood
Spanish Community Center
UI Health
Universal Family Connections
U.S. Renal Care
West Side United

Since IKCA’s inception with six member organizations, COVID-19 has presented unforeseen challenges for people with kidney disease and for their families, bringing a 25% mortality rate among those on dialysis who catch the disease and causing unprecedented stress on our health care system.

“We joined the Illinois Kidney Care Alliance because, now more than ever, we see first-hand how vulnerable patients with kidney disease are,” said Babajide Salako of Dialysis Care Center.

“The Alliance continues to grow as COVID-19 exposes the health disparities that exist in low income, Black and Brown communities,” said Jacqueline Burgess-Bishop, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. “We have always known how vulnerable we are, and things have only become more challenging.”

“This pandemic has devasted our communities. Some of the most vulnerable people walk through our doors, and we relish any chance to advocate on their behalf,” said Dr. Tunji Alausa of Kidney Care Center.

IKCA’s inaugural members included American Renal Associates, the Chronic Disease Coalition, DaVita Inc., Fresenius Medical Care, the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, and U.S. Renal Care.

The coalition was created to raise awareness of the needs of people who suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), a condition also known as kidney failure. Those whose kidneys no longer function properly have two options for survival: Dialysis or a kidney transplant. More than 30,000 patients suffer from kidney failure in Illinois.

Over 650,000 people suffer from kidney failure in the United States. About 70 percent of them are on life-sustaining dialysis, while the rest are able to survive with a transplant. Since the beginning of the pandemic, incidence rates of ESRD have risen, are expected to keep rising and remain higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites.

In its early stages, Kidney disease can go undetected, since it often has no symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. For this reason, some call it a “silent disease.” According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, it is responsible for the deaths of more people than prostate or breast cancer in the U.S. every year.

For more information, visit the IKCA website: www.ilkidneycarealliance.org