ASN will present a September 27, 2017 Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety webinar on Targeting Zero Infections: Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs) and Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Dialysis Facility. CME and CNE credits will be offered. For details and registration see https://www.asn-online.org/ntds/event.aspx?ID=4 .
As part of a project to create free patient support educational material for CKD and dialysis patients, the organization Muse Story Telling is seeking patient stories. You can connect with them at the August 20, 2017 NKF/PKG Wellness Fair in Portland, you can email them anytime at research@musestorytelling.org , or you can start with their short get-to-know-you survey at https://musestorytelling.typeform.com/to/OgVaYu .
The International Society for Hemodialysis will hold a Hemodialysis University conference in Chicago September 7-9, 2017. For details see http://www.ishd.org/meetings-hdu/ .
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, established to encourage people of all ages to make sure they are up to date on the vaccines recommended for them. Communities use August each year to raise awareness about the important role vaccines play in preventing serious, sometimes deadly, diseases. For details see https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niam.html .
NKF and the Portland Kidney Group will present their Annual Community Picnic & Kidney Wellness Fair in Portland on August 20, 2017. Bring your family, friends, and appetite, and don’t forget to RSVP. Find full details at https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N/PKG.Picnic.0817.pdf .
We expect the northern half of Oregon and the southern half of Idaho to be heavily impacted by the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. Newsweek magazine foresees a possible “disaster-like” scenario, with extensive traffic jams and cellphone overloads in places that may not be prepared for them; see http://www.newsweek.com/solar-eclipse-space-national-disaster-solar-eclipse-prep-643766 . Some facilities have rescheduled patients to keep Monday August 21 open, but in some places the flood of visitors could also cause travel problems on the days before and after the eclipse. We included details of the eclipse path in our post at https://nwrnbulletins.wordpress.com/2017/08/08/nw16-821-heavy-eclipse-traffic/ .
Networks are required by CMS to track the status of facility operations and patient access to treatment during emergency events. If the operations of your facility, or ability for patients to have access to dialysis are impacted by emergency events of any kind, please let your Network know right away. For Network 16, contact Lisa Hall at LHall@nw16.esrd.net or 206-923-0714. We also ask that you fill out and submit the Network Disaster Reporting Form, which you can find at https://nwrn.org/files/E/Interruptions.pdf .
