Donation

A LETTER TO BECOME A

DONOR

Thanks for your interest in being a potential kidney donor for Dayna – I look forward to working with you through your donor evaluation.

To start the evaluation, you will need to complete a Medical History Questionnaire.

Follow this link to complete the questionnaire https://piedmont.donorscreen.org/register/donate-kidney or key in piedmont.donorscreen.org

Once I receive your questionnaire back, I will review your history with one of our Nephrologist’s before we move forward and give you a call to review the donor work-up and answer any questions you may have.

Then I would like you to review the attached document called the Informed Consent for the Living Kidney Donor Evaluation. This consent outlines the donor evaluation and surgery process. Please sign the last page where indicated and e-mail this back to me. I will be happy to answer any questions you have regarding the information in the document - I do review this document with you in depth during the 1-day evaluation visit later in the work-up.

Once the signed Informed Consent is returned you will receive a call from our Living Donor Advocate – Lucy Smith. She will briefly outline her role as your advocate and your rights as a Living Donor. It is a requirement that you speak with Lucy before we start the formal testing process. If she does not reach you, she will leave a voice mail for you to return her call as well as send you an e-mail. Her number is 404-605-2406 if you miss her call.

I would also like you to send me 1 blood pressure reading. You can use a machine you have at home, work or you can use a local pharmacy or supermarket that carry public machines. You can just e-mail this to me once completed.

Then we will then start some preliminary lab work that you can do close to home - labs will include assessment of your kidney function, checking your blood type and risk for diabetes.

Once these results have been reviewed by the nephrologist and are acceptable, we will schedule you for the 1-day donor evaluation at our Transplant Clinic at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. This visit will involve meeting with some of our team - a Nephrologist, our Independent Donor Advocate, a Social Worker and me. Testing will include labs, chest x-ray, EKG, assessment of your kidney function with a Glofil test or 24-hour urine collection (done at home), CT scan of the abdomen to look at your kidney anatomy, and based on your age and history a treadmill stress test. Other testing and consults may be ordered as needed based on your age, medical history and travel history.

This process is confidential and all testing and surgery costs will be covered by the intended recipients insurance. We also work in Partnership with the National Kidney Registry. They have a great program called Donor Shield and we enroll all of our donors into this program. There is no cost to the donor – the program offers a number of great benefits like wage reimbursement from 2-6 weeks post-surgery depending on need, travel reimbursement plus other benefits. See attached brochure.

Also attached is a booklet about our Living Donor evaluation plus our transplant recipient outcomes for Living Donor vs Deceased donor transplants at Piedmont Hospital.

For additional information about our program there is a smart phone app

Piedmont Kidney Pancreas Transplant Piedmont Healthcare, Inc. This contains educational material and videos of the surgery etc. This is the link to our Transplant webpage http://www.piedmont.org/transplant/transplant-home

Since February 2021, The National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO) has provided its team of living donor mentors to donor candidates who register with the National Kidney Registry (NKR). The Donor Connect program is now being offered to all potential donors who have completed the online medical history questionnaire. Once your questionnaire is complete you will receive a call from a certified donor mentor to help guide you through your donor workup.

NKDO Frequently asked questions:

https://www.nkdo.org/faq-kidney-donor-candidate-questions

https://unos.org/transplant/living-donation/

Please let me know if you have any questions as we move forward.

Many thanks,

Leanne Whitehead, RN, CCTN | Living Donor Transplant Coordinator

Piedmont Transplant Institute l 1968 Peachtree Road, NW | 77 Building, 5th Floor | Atlanta, GA 30309

O: 404.605.4605 | F: 770-916-4853 | E: leanne.whitehead@piedmont.org