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| Here we see the traditional instrumentation and beautiful traditional garments of the young women. |
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| The younger group is performing here. |
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| The boys have their chance to dance too! |
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
One Year and Counting
A moderate number of us in the kidney group braved the drippy weather and showed up for the one year anniversary for roasted chicken dinner and a talent show. Troyce emceed and played a couple of songs with a member of his band. Esther sang some opera. Patty and Yasuyo brought much of the food and decorations thanks in part to some funding from the National Kidney Foundation. The highlight of the celebration was the dancing of children and teens from the Tibetan community.
Between the dancers and their family members, the room became brightly colored and crowded. What a joy it was to have them all come and perform for us! It is amazing how much we have accomplished in one year. We will be taking a break for the holidays, but don't miss our next meeting in January! We will have a presentation by a lawyer on advance directives, a highly valuable presentation for anyone with chronic health problems. From all of us in the Portland Kidney Group, we hope you have a safe and healthy holiday season and hope that you join us in 2011!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Getting to Know Each Other in a Non-Kidney Way
That's really what the upcoming event in November, celebrating our one year anniversary, is all about. Remember the days in kindergarten when you couldn't wait for show and tell? It's important as a community to share our loves and dreams as well as our frustrations with kidney disease. This is a chance for all of us to get to know each other as whole people, so I hope you all can find something to share with us to celebrate our one year anniversary!!! If you can't think of something, please come and lend your eyes and your ears and join in the fun! If you would like to share something that has equipment needs, please contact Troyce so he can set that up for you.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
NKF Patient Education Symposium- Sept. 2010
About a hundred participants showed up today to get out of the weather and learn about treatment options for end stage renal disease. Troyce, co-chair of the Portland Kidney Group gave a moving keynote address and Craig Hostert sponsored by Astellas Pharma US spoke of his transplant experience in the education building of Meridian Park Hospital. Since this was the first time for many of us in this space, we wondered how many people would make the trip. As you can see from the photo below, we had a pretty good showing!
A yummy breakfast spread was generously provided by Gabriel's Bakery, Nancy's Yogurt, Liepold Farms and Michael Meo for congress. Thanks to the Legacy Transplant team we had the donation of the conference space. Thanks to Northwest Renal Network #16 and the National Kidney Foundation we had marketing and logistical support. Also, this conference couldn't have been pulled off without the volunteer hours put in by the organizing committee of the Portland Kidney Group who shared their unique patient perspectives during their presentations. During our patient panel we had a detailed discussion of buttonhole technique, Nx Stage, nocturnal dialysis, and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Check out these masked bandits immediately following the live PD demonstration!
During our break for lunch, participants had a final chance to visit and ask questions of some notable organizations supporting kidney patients. We had the pleasure of having representatives from the Fresenius Home Dialysis Unit, Legacy Transplant Team, The MIKE program, Northwest Kidney Kids Camp, Northwest Renal Clinic Access Center, NW Renal Network #16, NxStage, Oregon Dietitian Association, Ride Connection, and (of course) the National Kidney Foundation and the Portland Kidney Group. Thank you so much finding the time in your weekend to come visit us and share with us what you have to offer!
Really, there are so many people to thank who helped make this event happen. It was really a community effort, though a special thanks must be said for Yasuyo who has been instrumental in connecting with all of us and inspiring those of us in the Portland Kidney Group to walk a little outside of our comfort zone and grow as we learn to help others help themselves on their kidney paths. We hope that you can join us for the next patient eduction symposium March 20th of next year! In the meantime, come and visit us during one of our support group meetings. We rarely bite!
A yummy breakfast spread was generously provided by Gabriel's Bakery, Nancy's Yogurt, Liepold Farms and Michael Meo for congress. Thanks to the Legacy Transplant team we had the donation of the conference space. Thanks to Northwest Renal Network #16 and the National Kidney Foundation we had marketing and logistical support. Also, this conference couldn't have been pulled off without the volunteer hours put in by the organizing committee of the Portland Kidney Group who shared their unique patient perspectives during their presentations. During our patient panel we had a detailed discussion of buttonhole technique, Nx Stage, nocturnal dialysis, and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Check out these masked bandits immediately following the live PD demonstration!
During our break for lunch, participants had a final chance to visit and ask questions of some notable organizations supporting kidney patients. We had the pleasure of having representatives from the Fresenius Home Dialysis Unit, Legacy Transplant Team, The MIKE program, Northwest Kidney Kids Camp, Northwest Renal Clinic Access Center, NW Renal Network #16, NxStage, Oregon Dietitian Association, Ride Connection, and (of course) the National Kidney Foundation and the Portland Kidney Group. Thank you so much finding the time in your weekend to come visit us and share with us what you have to offer!
Really, there are so many people to thank who helped make this event happen. It was really a community effort, though a special thanks must be said for Yasuyo who has been instrumental in connecting with all of us and inspiring those of us in the Portland Kidney Group to walk a little outside of our comfort zone and grow as we learn to help others help themselves on their kidney paths. We hope that you can join us for the next patient eduction symposium March 20th of next year! In the meantime, come and visit us during one of our support group meetings. We rarely bite!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Make a Quilt Square with Donate Life!
At our support group meeting a month and a half ago when we heard a speaker from Donate Life and viewed the current Threads of life quilt, a few of you showed interest in participating in next year's quilt. I am passing on the following information I found on Donate Life's newsletter for those interested:
Come see the beautiful Lions Eye Bank and design a quilt square for the 2011 Threads of Life Quilt. Lions Eye Bank, Community Tissue Services, Pacific Northwest Transplant Bank and the Donor Family Advisory Committee will be hosting an afternoon quilt square making craft day for donor families and recipients September 12th, 2010 from 2-4:30pm. RSVP to Rebecca Simon at 503.494.2142 or simonr@ohsu.edu.
Come see the beautiful Lions Eye Bank and design a quilt square for the 2011 Threads of Life Quilt. Lions Eye Bank, Community Tissue Services, Pacific Northwest Transplant Bank and the Donor Family Advisory Committee will be hosting an afternoon quilt square making craft day for donor families and recipients September 12th, 2010 from 2-4:30pm. RSVP to Rebecca Simon at 503.494.2142 or simonr@ohsu.edu.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Portland Kidney Group Picnic
An estimated 65 people showed up for this relaxing event with a beautiful view of the river from Troyce's parent's house. Much fun was had by all, whether it was sitting around and sharing stories by the grapevine, swimming in the salt water pool, or listening to the band. One of our members, Sean, made some fabulous BBQ for the event while everyone else brought food to share spanning from salads to strawberry shortcake.
A special thanks to the people who helped set-up the event and who helped with the clean-up. A very special thanks to Troyce's parents. Their place is really quite exquisite and nicely set up for entertaining large groups of people comfortably.
Hopefully photos will show up on the blog soon.
Also, a reminder to those who haven't registered yet for the Patient Education Symposium on September 19th at Meridian Park from 9am-3:30pm. It is a free event with food and door prizes, however pre-registration is necessary since space is limited. You can register online at http://www.kidneynca.org/programs.asp or by calling 1-888-427-5653, ext. 116.
A special thanks to the people who helped set-up the event and who helped with the clean-up. A very special thanks to Troyce's parents. Their place is really quite exquisite and nicely set up for entertaining large groups of people comfortably.
Hopefully photos will show up on the blog soon.
Also, a reminder to those who haven't registered yet for the Patient Education Symposium on September 19th at Meridian Park from 9am-3:30pm. It is a free event with food and door prizes, however pre-registration is necessary since space is limited. You can register online at http://www.kidneynca.org/programs.asp or by calling 1-888-427-5653, ext. 116.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
NKF Kidney Walk a Huge Success!
The NKF Kidney Walk was a huge success! We raised over $45,000 towards helping people with kidney disease. More than 500 people braved the cold morning and came out to run, walk, and roll the 5K route through downtown Portland.
Teams gathered in brightly-colored green, yellow, and orange shirts in honor of family members and friends. Some teams even had doggie mascots, complete with a team shirt! The sun finally came out and shone on a colorful parade as everyone left Pioneer Courthouse Square at the start of the walk.
Thanks to everyone who helped and participated! You're amazing!
To start the event on a lively note, the band "Bad Actors" played upbeat music. Check out the guy with the towel over his shoulder, playing a green guitar. That's Troyce, an active member and officer of the Portland Kidney Group. Did you know he's on hemodialysis? Livin' his dream like all of us.
If you were there, did you stop by our table? We had lots of flyers to give away advertising the Portland Kidney Group. We also gave away newsletters, CDs of KidneyTalk, and lots of other great resources from the Renal Support Network, a non-profit organization that provides support and education for people affected by kidney disease (www.rsnhope.org).
A few smiling volunteers from the Portland Kidney Group talked to the many people that stopped by the table. Of course, we invited everyone to come to our monthly meetings!
We hope you'll come to our next meeting to see what we're all talking about so enthusiastically! You'll meet some wonderful people and learn a lot. You'll also have an opportunity to share your burdens and your hopes and receive encouragement and wisdom from people who've been where you are.
Check our schedule (see sidebar) to see when the next meeting is in your area. See you there!
Teams gathered in brightly-colored green, yellow, and orange shirts in honor of family members and friends. Some teams even had doggie mascots, complete with a team shirt! The sun finally came out and shone on a colorful parade as everyone left Pioneer Courthouse Square at the start of the walk.
Thanks to everyone who helped and participated! You're amazing!
To start the event on a lively note, the band "Bad Actors" played upbeat music. Check out the guy with the towel over his shoulder, playing a green guitar. That's Troyce, an active member and officer of the Portland Kidney Group. Did you know he's on hemodialysis? Livin' his dream like all of us.
If you were there, did you stop by our table? We had lots of flyers to give away advertising the Portland Kidney Group. We also gave away newsletters, CDs of KidneyTalk, and lots of other great resources from the Renal Support Network, a non-profit organization that provides support and education for people affected by kidney disease (www.rsnhope.org).
A few smiling volunteers from the Portland Kidney Group talked to the many people that stopped by the table. Of course, we invited everyone to come to our monthly meetings!
We hope you'll come to our next meeting to see what we're all talking about so enthusiastically! You'll meet some wonderful people and learn a lot. You'll also have an opportunity to share your burdens and your hopes and receive encouragement and wisdom from people who've been where you are.
Check our schedule (see sidebar) to see when the next meeting is in your area. See you there!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Eastside June 20th Meeting Cancelled
The regularly-scheduled Eastside meeting held at Lorenzen Conference Center on the third Sunday of the month is cancelled for June 20th. Happy Father's Day!
Join us the following Saturday, June 26, for the NKF Kidney Walk at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, Oregon.
The Eastside group will resume its regular meeting on Sunday, July 18th from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. We will hear about how the Donate Life online donor registry works.
Join us the following Saturday, June 26, for the NKF Kidney Walk at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, Oregon.
The Eastside group will resume its regular meeting on Sunday, July 18th from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. We will hear about how the Donate Life online donor registry works.
NKF Kidney Walk - Saturday, June 26
Don't forget to join us at the National Kidney Foundation's Portland Kidney Walk at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland! Check-in starts at 9:00 a.m. and the walk begins at 10:30 a.m. In order to walk, you will need to register. Click here to register (as an individual or with a team) or call (415) 543-3303, Ext. 114. Registration is free.
The Portland Kidney Group's regularly scheduled meeting on the Eastside for Sunday, June 20th is cancelled. We encourage you to come to the walk on Saturday, June 26th instead. The Portland Kidney Group will have a booth and lots of us will be walking.
Special live music will be provided by a member of the Portland Kidney Group and his band. You won't want to miss it!
The Portland Kidney Group's regularly scheduled meeting on the Eastside for Sunday, June 20th is cancelled. We encourage you to come to the walk on Saturday, June 26th instead. The Portland Kidney Group will have a booth and lots of us will be walking.
Special live music will be provided by a member of the Portland Kidney Group and his band. You won't want to miss it!
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