Kidney Knowledge Provided by Manna – Kansas City, MO

Description:

Health fair/screening:

A total of 53 people were screened at the event. There was 38 from the community and 15 volunteers were also screened. Screenings included a urinalysis, BMI, Blood sugars, and Blood pressure. All screened also went around to the following tables: Welcome, Urinalysis, BMI, Blood Sugars, Blood Pressure, Dietitian, NKF, Pharmacy, Guessing Games for everyone, Nurse Practitioner, Manna Fellowship church, informational handouts, and gift baskets. The participants whom weren’t volunteers were eligible to take a raffle ticket from the Manna Fellowship table and enter for one of the Gift baskets that were given away at the end of the day. There were also several activities that children could do including: face painting, coloring books, bubbles, basketball, toss games, corn hole and sidewalk chalk. Several from the community received information as to where to take their screening results due to no PCP and limited finances. Not only health information was provided but counseling was also available for both emotional and spiritual health for everyone screened.

There were a couple of highlights from the event. One was a person that had just moved to the country and only been in the area for about a week – was screened and needed assistance for finding a PCP for follow-up health as well as assistance for emotional and spiritual health – the person stayed at the event for well over an hour receiving valuable information. Another highlight was someone gave their life to Christ at the event!

Each participant had nothing but great things to say about the event. Such as:

It was very informative!
Participants didn’t realize how important the kidneys are and keeping them healthy!
Also very thankful that all of the screenings were available – many screened didn’t realize that they were at risk and need to obtain a PCP to follow up with.
Everyone at the event said it was very organized, valuable information available, super nice and knowledgeable volunteers, and awesome gift baskets to be given away.
A thank you letter paraphrased – “All I can say is WOW! You and your team from DCI did an outstanding job! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!”

There is a video that was put together during the first couple of hours; watch it HERE!

Food Panty Nutritional Education component:

We created two binders for the Food Pantry to keep onsite with nutritional information.

For the first binder titled “Nutritional Information for Typical Foods Supplied by Manna Food Pantry”:

We visited the food pantry and took pictures of the nutritional labels of the core foods that will be stocked. We then enlarged the pictures and printed them in color and placed them by food category in a binder. (i.e., Protein, Dairy, Condiments, Breads, Veggies and Beans, Soups and Sauces, Pasta/Rice, Snacks, Sides, Meal Helpers, Fruit, Peanut butter and jelly, Breakfast and Desserts) In the front of this binder, we have information about dietary recommendations for people with Chronic Kidney Disease, High Blood Pressure and Diabetes as well education on how to read a nutrition label with examples and the categories to focus on when looking at a label. (example: Calories, Sodium, Carbs, Protein, Fat)

For the second binder titled “Recipes for Typical Food Supplied by Manna Food Pantry”:

We found recipes that utilize many of the items found at the food pantry. We then categorized them by types of dishes (i.e., Breakfast, Main dishes, Sides, Sauces and Dressing, Salads, Snacks, Soups, Drinks, Desserts). In the front of the binder we have: Recipes for Low Sodium and also for Low Phosphorus. We also made a few copies of the recipes to get the pantry started to give to people.

As the Food Pantry grows – we will visit the pantry quarterly and update the books and see what other needs for educational material that would be beneficial. The money for the food pantry went for lower sodium option foods and proteins.

Purpose:

The purpose of this project is to help educate people on health issues that affect their kidneys and other disease states that affect the kidneys too – hypertension, diabetes, etc. all while showing the love of Christ.