Northwest Kidney Centers Endowment for Special Care and Ethics Honors Medical Leader Dr. Michael R. Kelly

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Nov 12, 2013, 08:30 ET

SEATTLE, Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Kidney Centers has established an endowment fund to honor longtime physician leader Dr. Michael R. Kelly and to advance two causes he is passionate about: medical ethics and special care for the most fragile kidney patients. The fund recently reached a milestone of $150,000 in contributions.

The fund builds on Northwest Kidney Centers' history as the birthplace of biomedical ethics. Services to be provided from the endowment fund could include education for kidney-doctors-in-training about ethical dilemmas in caring for people with kidney failure, public seminars on bioethics topics, or hosting visiting professors.

In addition, the Kelly endowment fund supports Northwest Kidney Centers' unique special care dialysis – outpatient treatment in beds and with a high level of nursing support. Special care is for medically fragile or unstable patients who would otherwise need to be hospitalized for dialysis treatment. It includes the availability of a chaplain. Kelly was medical director of the service for 14 years.

To mark Kelly's retirement and to celebrate raising $150,000 for the Michael R. Kelly, MD Endowment Fund for Special Care and Ethics, Northwest Kidney Centers named a room at its Haviland Pavilion, 700 Broadway in Seattle, the Michael R. Kelly, MD Great Room. "Naming this room is a well-deserved honor for a great man," said Joyce F. Jackson, president and chief executive officer of Northwest Kidney Centers.

"Mike Kelly is honest, passionate, loyal, productive and incredibly dependable," said Jackson, who worked with Kelly when he served as board of trustees chair, president of the fund-raising foundation board, head of the medical staff, chair of the ethics committee, and medical director of special care services.

"Dr. Kelly has given three decades of exceptional service and compassionate care of patients and their families, always with a commitment to maintaining the highest ethical standards in kidney care," Jackson said. "I respect him for his patient care talents and his willingness to do the right thing."

In the 1960s, ongoing dialysis – life support for people with failed kidneys – was a new, expensive and scarce resource. Northwest Kidney Centers, the world's first out-of-hospital dialysis organization, caught the attention of the world because of its citizen committee in charge of deciding which patients would get the treatment. That era has been called the dawn of the formal study of medical ethics.

Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit, locally run provider of kidney dialysis, public health education and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. Founded in Seattle in 1962, it was the world's first dialysis organization. It remains a model in the field because of its high quality services, community connections and generous donor support. Its website is www.nwkidney.org.

Donors interested in the Kelly fund may contact Larry Richards at 206-720-8550 or email.

Contact:      Cynthia Flash, Flash Media Services
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SOURCE Northwest Kidney Centers