World Kidney Day 2022: Providing Kidney Health Education and Screenings in Chicago
To honor World Kidney Day on March 10, Michelle Zubrycki, ACNP-BC, worked with the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois to provide free kidney health screenings to Chicago residents.
The mobile clinic, hosted at Chicago State University, provided a venue where healthcare providers like Michelle volunteered their time to offer services like free screenings for diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and CKD (chronic kidney disease).
“The general public may not even know that they’re at risk for kidney disease,” Michelle said. The goal of the event was to raise awareness and educate at-risk communities on how they can slow the progression and/or seek care for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
“To see very sick patients who you never thought would survive then walk out the hospital… It was miraculous.”
Michelle Zubrycki, ACNP-BC
Medical Science Liaison for Abdominal Transplant, Thermo Fisher Scientific Transplant Diagnostics
As an abdominal transplant nurse practitioner, Michelle has cared for many patients who struggled to navigate the transplant process.
“To see very sick patients who you never thought would survive then walk out the hospital… It was miraculous,” she says as she reflects on her experience as the lead transplant nurse practitioner at a large academic transplant center in Chicago.
In 2020, Michelle began to contemplate a career change, realizing she could take care of patients, outside of the intensive care unit. Today, Michelle is part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Transplant Diagnostics team as the Medical Science Liaison for Abdominal Transplant.
Michelle wants to ensure that patients can access crucial healthcare services that will support the long-term success of their transplants. She continues to donate her time as a medical volunteer and serves on the professional advisory board for the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois.
For more information on the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois, please visit nkfi.org.
Patient Stories & Advocacy
