Costa Mesa Boys & Girls Club class puts ‘kid’ in kidney health

Getting kids to care about their kidneys can be an uphill climb, but with the right tools — and some superhero capes — it’s possible to get children on board with healthy habits today that can help prevent chronic kidney disease in the future.

An event held Wednesday at the Boys & Girls Club of Costa Mesa aimed to show students the important role diet, exercise and proper hydration play in staving off chronic kidney disease, which affects more than 30 million Americans, or one in seven adults.

Volunteers Miguel Hernandez and Ximena Uyuni from Fresenius Kidney Care, lead students in a healthy kid pledge during an educational event at the Boys & Girls Club of Costa Mesa on Wednesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Volunteers from Fresenius Kidney Care, a company that offers dialysis services, equipment and devices nationwide, introduced students to Kidney Kid, a mascot designed to teach children ages 6 to 12 about how kidneys work, why they’re important and tips for keeping them in peak condition.

Boys & Girls Club attendees got their very own superhero masks and capes and then broke off into stations where they were encouraged to engage in physical activity and participate in online games and fun activities with a renal focus before rotating onto the next station.

During the event, kids were encouraged to take a pledge affirming their commitment to living a healthy lifestyle.

Kids play freeze dance Wednesday in an event hosted by Fresenius Kidney Care at the Boys & Girls Club of Costa Mesa. Lessons focused on preventing kidney disease later in life by making healthy lifestyle decisions today.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“It’s reinforcing the health education they’re getting at school or at home and helping them understand [a kidney] is an important organ, just like their heart or their lungs are important organs,” Jessie Newman, vice president of sustainability and citizenship for Fresenius, said of the company’s Kidney Kid Initiative.

Such classes are made possible through a $275,000 grant Fresenius awarded to Boys & Girls Clubs of America earlier this month. The funds help bring lessons like the one offered Wednesday to areas where residents might be more at risk for kidney disease.

“It really is quite hidden, but one of the things we know is kidney disease disproportionately affects people from marginalized communities, which is why education is so important,” Newman said.

The hope is that kids will not only learn about kidney health, but will go home and talk to their parents about what they learned. In this way, youth can become heroes for healthy changes in the household.

“I think the masks and the capes help,” Newman said.

President Dennis Kogod, and nurse volunteers Miguel Hernandez and Ximena Uyuni, from left, of Fresenius Kidney Care, on Wednesday offered free superhero capes and masks to after-school kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Costa Mesa.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

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