Latinos and Kidney Transplants

More than 80% of people on the national transplant waiting list need a kidney.

Multicultural populations have a higher risk of diabetes (primarily, type 2), high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease, all of which increase the risk of kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease is a serious health problem for Hispanic Americans. In fact, Latinos/Hispanics are 1½ times more likely to have kidney failure than other Americans are.

Donate Life Northwest wants to encourage the Latino community with kidney disease to learn more and explore all of their options for treatment. It is important to learn about the transplant process, preparing for transplant, living donation, and deceased donation.

We would like to offer free resources to patients looking for more information; the resources available are in both English and Spanish. Contact Maria Filizola for more information.

Resources for the Latino Community

Erase the Wait-Living Kidney Mentorship Program: This program focuses on living kidney donation by pairing waitlisted kidney patients with trained mentors who are living donors or recipients of living donations. Through peer networking, education on living donation, training on sharing one's story and need, and the chance to speak with those who have experienced living donation, participants and their support people are equipped to pursue living donation in the way that is most suitable for them. 

Transplant Education for Dialysis Patients: Our training will give patients the ability to explore the option of transplant and understand how it may be beneficial to them. Patients will learn from peers and medical professionals. 

Eliminemos la Espera: As our Done Vida Noroeste program grows, we are helping more Latino communities. A new program we are developing is Eliminemos la Espera. This program focuses on educating kidney patients on kidney transplantation and living donation and pairing them with mentors. Our mentors are both living donors and deceased donor recipients, as well as living donors. We want to support the Spanish-speaking community to empower themselves with education and resources about transplantation in the way that is most suitable for them. In addition, all of our training, materials, and resources will be provided in Spanish. If you are bilingual and are interested in participating as a mentor or know someone who can benefit from this, program or have questions, please contact Maria at maria@donatelifenw.org.

For local resources, please contact a transplant center.