U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Improving the understanding, detection, and management of kidney disease.
Learn about the basics of kidney disease and how to keep the kidneys healthier longer.
Learn about the two recommended tests for kidney disease.
Learn MoreInformation for people living with kidney disease and their loved ones.
Learn about diet and lifestyle changes to help you live a healthier and longer life.
Learn MoreClinical information for health professionals on CKD evaluation, monitoring, management, and patient education.
Learn about laboratory measurement and reporting.
Information for family reunion planners, health educators, faith leaders and community organization leaders interested in sharing kidney health information in a variety of settings.
Learn how Federal agencies are leading the multi-faceted and interconnected response to CKD.
Explore and order NKDEP's free materials and tools for a variety of audiences on a variety of CKD-related topics.
Family legacy starts with health.
Talk about kidney health.
Use the Family Reunion Health Guide to discuss the connection between diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease at your next family reunion—or any family gathering. Encourage your family members to get tested if they have risk factors for kidney disease. You don't need to be a health professional; we'll show you how.
Family reunions are fun. You have a chance to talk about old times with relatives, honor ancestors, sample favorite family recipes, and enjoy being together. And while the family is together, it's also a great time to talk about family health. It's a great time to make the kidney connection.
This guide will help you talk to your family about kidney disease and its connection to diabetes and high blood pressure. You may know family members who have diabetes or high blood pressure or both. What you may not know is that diabetes and high blood pressure are the two leading causes of kidney failure, which affects African Americans more than other groups.
If you think your family members would be open to a short talk at your reunion—consider conducting this 15-minute Make the Kidney Connection health discussion. It presents a quick overview of the most important information your family members should know about kidney disease: how to know if they are at risk, how to get tested, and what can be done if they have kidney disease.
If you have a full weekend of activities for your family reunion, you may include this conversation during the reunion's opening reception/meet & greet dinner. Or you may carve out a time during the family picnic to talk about health. You also may decide the best opportunity to talk about kidney health is during the reunion's closing dinner, sending the family off with tips to live healthier until the next family gathering.
You can include health information at your reunion by talking one-on-one with family members at risk for kidney disease. You already may know which family members have diabetes or high blood pressure, or you may need to ask others in your family to help you identify them.
Start a conversation with these family members, and help them make the connection between their diabetes or high blood pressure and their kidney function. If your family has a family history of kidney failure, be sure to emphasize that connection.
Tips for approaching family members.
Sometimes it can be awkward talking to family members one-on-one about personal health issues. Keep these tips in mind when approaching family members at risk:
Technology makes it easier to connect with family members. You don't have to wait until your family reunion to talk about the family's health.
With this message template you may personalize and email a note to family members. Personalize and copy and paste this note into the body of an email, a Facebook message, a newsletter, or a blog template. If your family reunion has a website or your family has a blog, refine and post this message.
You also may attach a PDF of the NKDEP Questions & Answers About the Kidneys and Kidney Disease fact sheet to the email to share it with your loved ones. You can post this message as a note on Facebook, tagging family members and loved ones. You also may include the message in your family reunion newsletter.
Hi Family,
I came across this information and thought it would be helpful for many of us who are managing diabetes and high blood pressure. I recently learned that diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes of kidney failure. Some of us may know that we have diabetes or high blood pressure, but may not know that these conditions put us at risk of developing kidney disease.
Kidney disease is serious—it can cause the kidneys to fail, which means a person must either go on dialysis or get a kidney transplant. We have a family history of kidney failure, and that puts many of us at risk, too. The good news is that there are things we can do to protect our kidneys.
Please read the attached information. If you are at risk for kidney disease, talk to your doctor or health care provider about getting tested and about other ways to protect your kidneys and stay healthy. Let's make sure there are many more family reunions, birthdays and family gatherings for all of us.
Let's commit to supporting each other when it comes to our health.
For more information about kidney disease, call 1-866-4-KIDNEY (1-866-454-3639) or visit www.nkdep.nih.gov. Join me online and like the Make the Kidney Connection page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/makethekidneyconnection).
With Love,
[Name here]
1. Connect your Family with Physical Activity. Start each day with a family walk during your family reunion weekend. Incorporate games and other activities, suitable for all ages.
2. Get Moving. Lifestyle activities like gardening, playing with children and pets and taking the stairs instead of elevators can increase the number of calories you burn each day.
3. Connect the Numbers: Include a health screening at your Family Reunion. You can check blood pressure or glucose. Reach out to local nursing students, Chi Eta Phi nursing sorority or organizations such as the American Kidney Fund and National Kidney Foundation to find out how.
4. Connect your Faith Family with Kidney Health. Conduct a Kidney Sundays event and share educational materials with your faith community.
5. Add Some Fun to Your Reunion. No adult is too old to enjoy physical activity. Incorporate team games into your reunion and make sure all ages have a role.
1. Make the Low Sodium Connection. Use spices, herbs and sodium-free seasonings in place of salt at your family reunion or when making meals for the faith community.
2. Encourage members of your congregation to prepare a healthier meal and bring samples for a tasting with the group, or recruit local dietetics students to conduct food demonstrations.
3. Start Early: Help Parents Make the Kidney Connection. More and more young adults are developing diabetes at younger ages—making them at risk for kidney disease later in life. Make sure the parents in your family learn about what they can do to help protect their children from chronic diseases.
4. Connect your Family with Organ Donation Information. One organ donor can save up to eight lives. Register eligible members of your family to be organ donors, and ensure they tell other members about their donation decision.
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Page last updated: April 25, 2012
NKDEP is an initiative of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS)
"NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health"
