Hospitals across the planet jointly celebrated World Kidney Day, and Montefiore Medical Center joined in on the action.

In recognition of the event, on March 10 Montefiore set up a table in the lobby of its Moses Campus with pamphlets, handouts, and giveaways that piqued interest on organ donation. Those who wished to sign up to join the kidney donor registry were also welcomed.

World Kidney Day is a global campaign aimed at providing awareness and information about kidney disease, its risk factors, preventive steps, and the importance of donating organs.

“It’s really about loving your kidneys, taking care of your kidneys, and how to prevent new disease,” said Leo Trevino, manager of organ/tissue donation for Montefiore.

Kidneys are regulatory organs responsible for filtering blood and creating urine, making them vital organs to a healthy human body. Health factors that include overconsumption of alcohol, dehydration, or abnormal blood flow to the organs can damage the kidneys, which could cause kidney failure.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, roughly 26 million American adults have kidney failure, with many unaware they’re affected by it until a visit to the doctor. While dialysis is a common treatment procedure for kidney failure, an organ donation is often a permanent fix.

But the typical waiting time for a compatible and available kidney is around five to seven years, and many die waiting for the lifesaving gift.

This was not the case for Elvin Olivera, who has been living with his donated liver and kidney for about 18 months, and has paid it forward by becoming an advocate and volunteer for organ donor sign-up drives.

“To receive this gift of life, it’s awesome. It’s somewhat difficult to put into words. There isn’t enough words to express my appreciation for what [the donor’s family had] done,” said Olivera emotionally. “Even though I don’t know them, I’ve never met them. I’ll always be connected to them through these organs.”

And Olivera is lucky to have been removed from the waiting list, since there are more people waiting on kidney donors than available kidneys.

“The list keeps growing,” said Dr. Stuart Greenstein, director of Outreach and Development at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation. He said there are unintended benefits to joining the kidney donor registry. “When we evaluate someone who wants to be a live donor, many times it is picked up that they have kidney disease or some other disease,” said Greenstein. “And by them coming forward to be a live donor, we can actually save their life.”

And whether live or dead, Greenstein sees immense power in people offering the gift of donating. “It’s the most extreme act of love you can do for somebody else. To give something of yourself to somebody else when you don’t have to do it,” he said.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.