内容摘要：They eventually established their Pug Rescue South Africa in Johannesburg in 2010 because of an overflowing number of dogs in their house. It was “never part of the plan” when they looked ahead to their retirement, said Gaw, who is 63. “Of course, the pugs won,” she added.

They eventually established their Pug Rescue South Africa in Johannesburg in 2010 because of an overflowing number of dogs in their house. It was “never part of the plan” when they looked ahead to their retirement, said Gaw, who is 63. “Of course, the pugs won,” she added.

“Lots of time when we see health inequities, we just assume there’s nothing we can do about it,” Morse said. “We can make changes to restore faith in the health system and to actually address the unfair and avoidable outcomes that Black people and other people of color face.”Black Americans are over three times more likely than white people to experience kidney failure. Of the roughly 89,000 people currently on the waiting list for a new kidney, about 30% are Black.

Race isn’t a biological factor like age, sex or weight — it’s a social construct. So how did it make its way into calculations of kidney function?The eGFR, or estimated glomerular filtration rate, evaluates kidney health based on how quickly a waste compound called creatinine gets filtered from blood. In 1999, an equation used to calculate eGFR was modified to adjust Black people’s results compared to everyone else’s, based on some studies with small numbers of Black patients and a long-ago false theory about differences in creatinine levels. Until recently that meant many lab reports would list two results — one calculated for non-Black patients and another for Black patients that could overestimate kidney function by as much as 16%.Not every Black kidney candidate was affected. Some may have had kidney failure diagnosed without that test. For others to have a chance at benefitting from UNOS’ mandated lookback, transplant center staff-turned-detectives often worked after hours and weekends, hunting years-old records for a test that, recalculated without the race adjustment, might make the difference.

“You’re reaching out to the nephrologist, their primary care doctors, the dialysis units to get those records,” said Dr. Pooja Singh of Jefferson Health’s transplant institute in Philadelphia, where Evans received her new kidney. “That first patient getting transplanted for us was such a great moment for our program that the work didn’t feel like work after that.”A high school sports physical first spotted Evans’ kidney disease at age 17. While finishing her master’s degree and beginning to earn her Ph.D. at Temple University, she started dialysis — for nine hours a night while she slept — and was placed on the transplant list.

How long it takes to get a kidney transplant depends on patients’ blood type, medical urgency and a mix of other factors — including how long they’ve spent on the waiting list. Evans was first listed in April 2019. When the Jefferson transplant center unearthed her old lab tests, they found she should have qualified in September 2015.

“Just for context, when I was still an undergrad I should have been on the list,” she said, recalling the anger she felt as she read the letter. What she called “a mind-blowing” credit of 3½ more years waiting also provided “a glimmer of hope” that she’d be offered a matching kidney soon.In three to five years, the center hopes to open the doors of the historic home itself to visitors, says Lisa Solomine, the executive director.

“It’s like building a museum from scratch,” she says. The closets still contain shopping boxes and old shoes, says Leung.Community members across the state and beyond have offered help, Solomine says.

“Everyone who sets foot at the site, it’s almost like they sigh a breath of relief, and they say, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s so peaceful and calm here.’”This image shows an interior view of the Liljestrand House in Honolulu, Hawaii, designed by architect Vladimir Ossipoff. (Kristina Linnea Garcia via AP)