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Introducing Our Phone Buddy Scheme
This is a scheme was co developed by patients, healthcare professionals and GOLD to provide Black patients with End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) information about living kidney donation from people from their own community who have lived experience of living kidney donation. Black patients have voiced they would benefit greatly from talking with Black living donors and living donor recipients to help them make an informed decision about living kidney donation as a treatment option.
Our Mission
To empower and equip Black kidney patients to talk with family and friends about living kidney donation, as a Black patient a simple chat with a peer phone buddy is a good way to find out more about living kidney donation especially from a cultural and faith perspective, having those early conversations with family and friends could make a difference between a pre-emptive transplant or needing dialysis.
How Will It Help?
The scheme is designed to make it easier for Black patients with ESKD to ask loved ones to consider becoming a living kidney donor. They will have the opportunity to speak with a trained phone buddy who has lived experience.
The phone buddy scheme is extended to family members and friends who have decided to come forward as potential living donors and want to speak with a peer phone buddy about the living donor process and what living with one kidney is like.
Who Are Peer Phone Buddies?
Phone buddies are trained volunteers who provide confidential, friendly phone support, offer practical advice and share information through their lived experience. They can signpost patients to other services. As part of their training the peer phone buddies are trained by an accredited trainer and subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Our Phone buddies do not provide medical or clinical advice.
Benefits of the Scheme
- Empower Black kidney patients to talk to family and friends about living kidney donation, early conversations about living donation could inspire loved ones to come forward which could potentially lead to a pre-emptive transplant.
- Having a peer phone buddy to support to support patients on their renal journey can make a difference to their experience and well-being.
- Helps patients and potential donors to have a better understanding of kidney health and living donation
To Register
To register for the scheme, please click the link to complete the online application form or email Buddy@giftoflivingdonation.org.uk
Volunteer to be a Peer Phone Buddy!
Would you like to share your experience with Black kidney patients and Black people coming forward as living kidney donors to help them on their journey? If yes we would love to hear from you, drop us an email here