The waiting list for donor kidney transplants continues to grow year after year. This leaves many patients on dialysis and waiting for a desperately-needed kidney transplant.

At Hartford Hospital, however, the Living Donor Champion Program provides an opportunity to help patients waiting for a kidney find one faster.

Dr. Caroline Rochon is surgical director of the kidney transplant program at Hartford Hospital. She has details on this relatively new and quite innovative program.

Q: Tell us about the Living Donor Champion Program at Hartford Hospital?

A: It is a new initiative to empower potential kidney transplant recipient who and their family to get comfortable talking about chronic kidney disease, their need for a kidney donor and the tremendous health benefits of kidney transplantation.  The program consists of 3 sessions of about 2 hours each.  Champions have 3 goals: become an expert, master tools and techniques to share their recipient’s story and establish a network.

Q: What is the role of an organ donor champion?

A: The role of the champion is to share the recipient’s story. That helps to raise awareness of their loved one’s need for a kidney donor.  It is a chance to be able to answer questions that may arise from these discussions. It is also an opportunity to grow their recipient’s potential audience so that as many people can hear their story as possible. Ultimately, we hope to help their loved one find a donor.

Q: A program like this can help break down the barriers of identifying living potential donors. What are some of the barriers that you are trying to eliminate? 

A: There seems to be a general lack of understanding in the community-at-large about the actual need for donors, as well as topics such as donor and recipient compatibility, the risk to the donors themselves (this is often exaggerated), and about national swap programs.

Q: What are the qualifications to becoming a living donor champion? 

A: We ask that living donor CHAMPIONS be free 3 weeks in a row, for two hours at a time to help care for someone affected by chronic kidney disease.

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To learn more about kidney transplantation services at Hartford Hospital, click here.