Two company representative Bertha Avalos and Vicky Ramos volunteer their time to raise CKD. Photos by Richard Lieberman
by Richard Lieberman
The DaVita Health tour campaign has arrived in Ventura. DaVita Health specializes in Dialysis, a life sustaining- treatment for those living with end stage kidney disease. The specialized bus is designed to offer free health screenings and kidney care education to residents of the cities they visit. The DaVita health screening bus visited Ventura on Tuesday October 24, 2023, setting up shop at the Pacific View mall in Ventura.
The mobile testing center is on a yearly tour offering free screenings and kidney care education in communities across the U.S. The screenings are free and designed to raise awareness of risk factors that could lead to chronic kidney disease. The health screenings will consider obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a family history of kidney failure.
Testing at the mobile center will specifically test certain factors that are indicative of possible kidney disease. The health screening testing will administer: a fingerstick glucose test that will determine diabetes risk, a blood pressure test that will determine hypertension, body measurement testing to determine body mass index, also available is a blood draw to determine a more in-depth measurement of kidney function. A qualified nurse practitioner will review with the participant the details and the results of the screenings.
Bertha Avalos and Vicky Ramos Davita company representatives described the services offered by the company “we deal mostly with patients with kidney failure, and we provide dialysis services for patients,” “The tour bus is a once-a-year event” Avalos said. “This is a totally free service and not intended to bring business into our clinics, but it is to serve the community” she added. DaVita maintains many full-service dialysis clinics all over Southern California. “This program is designed to offer kidney awareness to the community”, Avalos added. The tour bus is in action from September through November each year. “It’s a full nationwide tour, the tour started in Colorado then heads to California and proceeds from Georgia to Michigan and the tour will end around the week of Thanksgiving.”
Both Avalos and Ramos are part of the local team in California and volunteer to cover the tour in the local area. Avalos is the regional operations director for Ventura County and Ramos manages a Davita clinic in Moorpark. The bus can service around thirty residents a day, but numbers differ depending on the community they are in. “The biggest point to make is we are trying to spread awareness to our community members. So that they know what kidney disease is and that they take the steps that are needed to try and preserve their kidney function,” she stated. Avalos also said “We are trying to do our best to spread awareness within the community.
