improving awareness of living donation
The Phone Buddy Scheme
This is a scheme set up by GOLD to provide Black African Caribbean patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) information about living kidney donation from people from their own community who have lived experience of living kidney donation.
GOLD believes Black African Caribbean patients would benefit greatly from talking with Black living donors and living donor recipients to help them make an informed decision about living kidney donation.
Gift of Living donation
Our mission
We’re on a mission to empower Black African Caribbean kidney patients to talk with family and friends about living kidney donation.
As a Black patient a simple chat with a peer phone buddy is a good way to find out about living kidney donation especially from a black perspective, having those early conversations with family and friends could be the difference between a pre-emptive transplant or needing dialysis.
How Will It Help?
The scheme is designed to make it easier for Black patients with CKD to ask loved ones to consider becoming living kidney donors. They will have the opportunity to speak with a trained peer phone buddy who has lived experience of living kidney donation from a Black perspective and could empower them to talk with family and friends.
The peer phone buddy scheme is also extended to family members and friends who have come forward as potential living donors and want to speak with a peer phone buddy about the living donor process and what living with one kidney is like.
Who are Peer Phone Buddies?
Phone buddies are Black living kidney donors and Black transplant recipients from across the UK trained to provide confidential, friendly phone support and offer practical advice and information through sharing their lived experience. They also signpost patients to other services they may need.
As part of our training programme, all our peer phone buddies are trained by an accredited trainer and will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously CRB checks). Our Phone buddies do not provide medical or clinical advice.
Making a difference through conversations
What’s in it for me?
The feedback we receive from our peer phone buddies and those they support tells us that the rewards from both groups are many.
At the heart of the relationship with a phone buddy are the stories and information they’ll be sharing to help answer your questions. They will listen with understanding, respect and sometimes with a smile.
If you would like to register for the scheme, please click the below button to complete the online application form or contact us Buddy@giftoflivingdonation.co.uk.
Empowering patients
Empowers Black kidney patients to talk to family and friends about living kidney donation, early talks about living donation could inspire loved ones to come forward which could potentially lead to a pre-emptive transplant.
a better patient journey
Having a peer phone buddy as a potential living donor to support them on their living donor journey can make a big difference to their experience and wellbeing.
Freedom from dialysis
For those with chronic kidney disease and other conditions that affect our kidneys, a kidney transplant means a life free of dialysis and far fewer medications.
A brighter future
Read our donation stories to hear firsthand what a difference living kidney donation makes.
Education
A kidney from a living donor usually offers a better long-term outcome and family and friends may not know this. When they do understand everything that’s involved, you (and they) may be surprised!