The Irish Kidney Association is a charitable voluntary organisation founded in 1978. We are dedicated to meeting the needs of renal patients and their families and carers, living with and affected by end stage renal disease. These needs are spread across all aspects of life – medical, social and psychological. The profile of the kidney patient ranges from infanthood to the elderly who are undergoing various methods of treatment – haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis (both CAPD and APD) and kidney transplantation.
Kidney disease affects all age groups, both men and women.The reality of kidney disease is that it may impinge on many strands of a person’s life including: health, employment, education, social life and relationships, physical fitness and general well-being.
The progression of this disease means that the patient requires a lifetime of treatment: regular out-patient monitoring, on-going medication, surgery for dialysis access, dialysis, transplantation, failed transplant, re-dialysis, re-transplantation, and so on often developing additional health problems such as hypertension, bone disease, restricted mobility, cardiac complications, etc
