Posts Tagged ‘Kidney’

• The internal activist

  Date: 2015.04.17 | Category: Green Party, Health, J2DW, Rants & complaints | Response: 0

  

  The list for a donor organ in Belgium is 1,248 patients long. Many will wait more than three years to receive a kidney. Roel Marien, 39 and the father of two young girls, says he does not have the time to sit and wait. So he took matters into his own hands and began to search for a donor among his Facebook friends.
  His move sparked a discussion among doctors and patients in Europe about the current system, which is based on strict laws and anonymity. Is it fair if people search for organ donors online to avoid endless waiting lists? Might social media give certain patients an advantage, if they can present their stories well online? Should Patients Be Able to Find Organ Donors on Facebook? (2015) by Benjamin Duerr as published in The Atlantic.

  I am an activist. But I am not a normal activist as you might think. I am an activist for one person – me, myself, and I.

  This may seem like a selfish position, but in the day of online slacktivism, I think we are all activists for ourselves. You have the people who use GoFundMe to ask for money for school/health, or to ask for a kidney.

  My activism may be a bit more broad – I care about the Green Party and the Environment, my health, and other causes close to my heart. But try and talk to me about something outside of that, and I’ll be with the rest of the world watching Pop Star.

  And isn’t it sad that we can’t move out of our bubbles, our comfort zones, to consider what others are being activists for? What is close to their hearts?

  I heard it said once that liberal-types unfriend more people on Facebook than conservative-types, because conservative types are supposively more open minded. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do have a hard time reaching other activists in my sphere about my non-profit Journey to Diversity Workplaces.

  Does that mean they don’t care? I don’t know. It means that they don’t care enough to look deeper into what I’m presenting.

  The same can be said with my own kidney search. I haven’t taken to GoFundMe, because I am not out of pocket for any expense money. However, I have been on the transplant waiting list for 8 years. Yet a previous blog post I did on the topic got very few reads.

  So what does all this mean? We’re all selfish bastards, and we need to learn to both lighten up, and to support our friends, and neighbours.

  Because isn’t that what a good neighbour would do?

  Related articles

  • Social Media: A Floor for Activism
  • So You Want to Take Back Your Country? Now You Will Be Able to Network With Other Activists to Do Just That!
  • The great Anonymous divide

• Renal services in Barrie – a letter

  Date: 2014.09.23 | Category: Health, Open letter, Reading | Response: 0

  11 September, 2014

  Janice Skot, President & CEO
  Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
  201 Georgian Drive
  Barrie, Ontario L4M 6M2

  

  Dialysis machines in Barrie, Ontario

  RE: Renal services at RVH

  Dear Ms. Skot,

  Have you ever had to undergo long-term treatment for an ailment like cancer, or dialysis for failing kidneys?

  I have been a renal patient for approximately 30 years. I have been to a number of renal clinics, from the Hospital for Sick Children, to The Ottawa Hospital, to yours; and seen the various models, and services. What RVH currently offers is, in my opinion, both a blessing and a curse.

  The other day I had to visit RVH to have a blood transfusion in the medical treatment clinic. It was a very nice clinic, with three nice nurses. At any other hospital, I could simply have had that transfusion during my dialysis treatment. I already spend upwards if 12 hours a week at medical treatment, I don’t really enjoy spending extra time on top of that, when a volunteer could simply have gotten into a cab, and brought it over to the dialysis unit. Or RVH could do this new, and novel approach many hospitals are practicing – by putting the dialysis unit in the main hospital.

  Why is this not a priority?

  In many ways, I love that the dialysis unit is separate. You’re saving me a ton of money on parking. But then you go and try to gouge me by paying to watch your TV. I haven’t spent a dime on it. (I choose not to watch it.) As far as I am aware, RVH is the only hospital in Ontario to charge its dialysis patients to watch TV. We have no choice but to be there three times a week, and you want to nickel and dime us?

  Ultimately, however, Barrie as a city has approximately 135,711 residents, according to the 2011 census. Kingston, Ontario as a city has approximately 123,363. Kingston General Hospital has a renal transplant program. Why does RVH not have one? And don’t use us not having a University as an excuse. RVH could easily partner with the University of Toronto like you already have for the family medicine program.

  As a result of this situation, I would like you and RVH to make renal services a priority. Start now to bring a transplant program to RVH in the next 5 – 10 years. At the end of the day, Ms. Skot, it’s go time!

  Respectfully yours,

  Peter V. Tretter

  P.S. Could you please do something about all those styrofoam cups that end up in the landfill? Perhaps by replacing them with paper cups that can be recycled? Thank you.