Last year, we helped 1 out of every 5 dialysis patients in the U.S....

Thanks to the generosity of many Americans who care about their friends and neighbors with kidney disease, in 2008 the American Kidney Fund was able to provide $119.5 million in treatment-related financial assistance to more than 75,000 kidney patients nationwide.

The American Kidney Fund helped:

• 40,000 dialysis patients to maintain their health insurance coverage through our Health Insurance Premium Program;
• 30,000 patients to receive help with treatment necessities, such as transportation to dialysis, medication co-pays, nutritional products and emergency assistance through our Safety Net Programs;
• 2,000 patients to receive assistance with the expense of their Medicare Part D prescription bone care medications.

AKF also provided kidney disease education and prevention in 2008:

• More than 6,400 individuals received a free kidney disease screening in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., and more than 1.4 million people heard our public awareness radio campaign in those cities.
• We distributed more than 785,000 health education brochures and fact sheets.
• More than 275,000 people received a health information wallet card, providing important information about key health measures.
• Thousands of people e-mailed or called our HelpLine (866-300-2900) to get information about kidney health.