The Minnesota chapter of the National Kidney Foundation is launching a new initiative to raise awareness and reduce disparities associated with kidney disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 7 adults has chronic kidney disease, but experts explained a lot of people don’t know they have it.

Dr. Bernadeia Johnson, former Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent, received a kidney transplant in April and it gave her a second chance at life.

“I always write my vitals, my blood sugars and what I’ve had to eat,” Johnson said. “I can’t have raw sushi anymore. I have reduced sodium in my diet and carbohydrates in my diet.”

The new kidney came with a new lifestyle with a strict diet topped off with 50 pills per day to stay healthy.

“A requirement that’s necessary to maintain the kidney health is nutrition, exercise, medication and hydration,” Johnson said.

In April, her two-year wait on the transplant list ended when she received a new kidney.

Dr. Johnson said she was told six different times she would be receiving a kidney, and the sixth and final time panned out.

She had no idea she had kidney disease until she was in stage five, which is the most severe.

She explained lack of education about the disease was the main factor.

“We have to start educating people about this disease and actually not doing it is criminal,” Johnson said.

The Minnesota chapter of the National Kidney Foundation is teaming up with health organizations across the state to increase kidney disease screening, improve education and reduce disparities in the Black community.

“So they’re much more likely to develop kidney failure, they’re less likely to receive access to a kidney transplant or even a referral to a transplant evaluation,” Katelyn Laue, National Kidney Foundation senior director of Population Health Programs, said.

The foundation said primary care teams need to improve asking the right questions and ordering the tests.

“People with kidney disease are more likely to die of a heart attack or a stroke or heart failure than they are to advance to that kidney failure,” Laue said.

Laue said this is not just on patients and health care professionals to move the needle.

“That’s employers, that’s health insurance plans, that’s community-based organizations. That’s other nonprofits. It’s food organizations, employment organizations,” she said. “We really need everybody.”

Dr. Johnson explained she’s using her second chance to raise awareness and prevent others from going down the same path.

“I feel like I have a new lease on life. I can now do more around education and advocacy,” Johnson said. “I set aside my embarrassment and the anger and turned it into action.”

The foundation is officially launching the Ending Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease initiative virtually on Wednesday at 9 a.m. Register to attend the virtual summit here. 

The organization plans to use similar strategies to end disparities that were successful in nine other states.