In Arizona, more than 1,800 people were waiting for a kidney transplant last year. It’s a wait that can be many years long.
Even for people who think they’ve found a living donor — a friend or loved one willing to give them a kidney — they often find they’re not a match.
So Banner Health is doing something to help everyone involved.
It’s called a paired kidney exchange. Banner began doing them a few years ago when the United Network for Organ Sharing was working to create something similar on a national scale.
Since, the program has been able to complete these so-called “chains” of donors and change multiple lives for the better.
The Show talked with Madelyn Ruocco, clinical transplant coordinator at Banner Health, about the program.
