Grant: Operating Grant: SPOR iCT Rewarding Success - Travel Awards - BC

Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for patients with kidney failure because it helps patients live longer and have a better quality of life compared to dialysis. Transplantation also reduces health care costs, since each year of dialysis costs roughly $50,000 for each patient with kidney failure. Living donor kidney transplantation, where someone who is alive donates a kidney to a friend or loved one, is the fastest way to get a transplant and results in the best outcomes. People with kidney failure that live in rural, remote, or Indigenous communities are less likely to get a kidney transplant and it takes longer for them to get a transplant, meaning they spend more time on dialysis. In this study we will implement and test the impact of a new program where directed support and education will be provided in rural, remote, and indigenous populations in BC to help patients with kidney failure get improved access to living donor kidney transplantation, by helping them find potential living kidney donors and by speeding up their workup for transplantation by minimizing travel to and from the transplant program in Vancouver. We believe this program will result in more kidney transplants for patients in rural, remote, and indigenous populations in BC and therefore result in better outcomes for these patients.