The Wellness & Education Kidney Advocacy Network (weKAN)—a program of RSN established consists of “patient activists” from across the country whose common goal is to ensure that people with CKD receive quality care.

The following efforts continue to be competently implemented and/or addressed:

• Patient advocacy, providing support for legislation and regulatory issues that would be of benefit to kidney patients.

• Collaborative efforts, bringing together sectors of the community—professional and patient alike—in order to combine forces and not duplicate efforts in
  pursuit of common objectives (e.g., maintaining and improving the quality of patient care).

• Patient education, providing print (e.g., Live & Give newsletter), electronic, and face-to-face communications to help patients advocate for their needs in
  meeting the challenges of living with CKD.

• Mentoring opportunities, involving a cross-section of the patient population interested in helping other patients learn self-determination and self-advocacy to influence decision-making on the medical and legislative fronts.

• Speaking opportunities, allowing patients to share knowledge with other patients and healthcare professionals on how to initiate grassroots activities that would allow more patients to become involved in advocacy issues.

• Patient representation in industry-wide renal care coalitions, allowing the patients’ perspective to be heard and taken into account.

If kidney patients do not have a solid base from which to speak about their needs, it seems inevitable that governing bodies will continue to derail services and implement policies that may adversely impact patient care. With an active voice and increased knowledge, the weKAN patient activists will not only be able to advocate for themselves, but for the many thousands of patients destined to follow.