HRRC - Health Promotion


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Kidney Awareness Week held in the first week of June provides a major opportunity for health promotion for the Hunter Renal Resource Centre. Kidney Awareness Week is a national promotion established by the Australian Kidney Foundation to increase public awareness of kidney and urinary tract health and disease. Kidney Awareness Week has been a feature of the John Hunter Hospital's Renal Unit calender for the last thirteen years.

This year blood pressure, urine and dietary screening was conducted at John Hunter Hospital and the Awabakal Aboriginal Co-op. Over 2 days a total of 130 people participated in the screening. Of these 50% had abnormalities detected. While most were indicative of minor urinary tract problems, 8 people had test results suggesting more serious ailments and were encouraged to see their GP's more promptly.

Currently, in Australia there are 9800 people with End Stage Kidney Failure, approximately 5100 on dialysis and over 4600 people have a functioning kidney transplant.

You have an increased risk of developing kidney problems if you have:

diabetes
a family history of kidney problems
uncontrolled high blood pressure

Many serious kidney diseases may have no symptoms until very late in the course of the disease. If they are detected early enough, progression of the disease can often be slowed dramatically by modifications to the diet and treatment with medication.

Some warning signs of kidney and urinary tract problems are:

Burning or discomfort when passing urine
Changes in the frequency of passing urine
Increased passage of urine at night
Swelling or puffiness, especially of the ankles
Appearance of blood in the urine
Back pain just under the ribs
High blood pressure

If you have any of these symptoms visit you doctor for an immediate check up.

For further information about kidney disease and treatment issues please contact the Hunter Renal Resource Centre, ph. (02) 4943 9635.