The KfH Kuratorium für Dialyse und Nierentransplantation e.V. (Board of Trustees for Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation), based in Neu-Isenburg, has been in existence since 1969, having created and taken over the care structures for nationwide treatment of dialysis patients suffering from chronic kidney disease. Today, 90,000 people in Germany can be treated with the help of kidney replacement therapy until they could receive a donor kidney after an average waiting period of usually six to eight years. In addition to dialysis in outpatient centers, however, there are also home dialysis procedures that may allow those affected to regain more flexibility and quality of life. Many can also continue to work. There are then two blood purification procedures, peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis, even in the patient’s own home. Both differ considerably. However, hemodialysis is used more frequently than so-called peritoneal dialysis. In hemodialysis, a device with a membrane outside the patient’s body filters the blood. An exceptional case since the foundation of the non-profit KfH is the nephrological care of Thomas Lehn, now 64 years old, who already received hemodialysis at the age of 14 because he had kidney disease from birth. He has already been a patient for half a century, as he would have „celebrated 50 years of dialysis“ on August 20, 2020, if the Corona pandemic had not intervened. Lehn has been living and working well with hemodialysis at home for 37 years now. He also lectures and provides information and advice to younger patients. In 2019, he received the Federal Cross of Merit for his commitment to serving the Board of Trustees. In Germany, however, only six percent of all dialysis patients take advantage of home dialysis, which is low by European standards, where the average is 14 percent. Despite this, or precisely for this reason, KfH has developed a new information service for patients to inform them about treatment at home. From Monday to Friday between 13 and 15 o’clock specialists and personally concerned inform advice-looking for on the telephone under the telephone number 06102 – 719 22 92. Assistance gets one in addition, after contact with the following E-Mail address dialyse-zu-hause@kfh.de or on the Website heimdialyse.kfw.de. For example, interested parties can find out everything they need to know about kidney replacement procedures in addition to explanations about work, family, leisure and nutrition.
Source: gesundheit-adhoc.de