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About the Founder
In Brief
 Lori Hartwell
has made a difference in the lives of people with chronic kidney disease. She is
the model of living a fulfilling life despite chronic illness. A kidney patient
since age two, she has experienced dialysis for 12 years and is now awaiting her
fourth kidney transplant, Lori founded the
patient-led Renal
Support Network in 1993 to instill “health, happiness, and hope” into the lives of fellow patients. As
RSN president, Lori travels throughout the country educating and inspiring
patients and healthcare professionals with her stories, insight, and humor. She
is the author of
Chronically Happy - Joyful Living in Spite of Chronic Illness, an
inspirational guidebook for handling lifestyle and other non-medical issues that
come up in the course of chronic disease. Lori has been a guest on radio talk shows nationwide, and her annual
Renal Teen Prom has enjoyed local broadcast and nationwide television
coverage. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her leadership and
is a sought-after inspirational and motivational speaker. In 2009 she produced a
play called
Who Lives? by Christopher Meeks- a moving drama about hope, despair, life, death and choice; based on the early
history of kidney dialysis- which opened in Los Angeles and was nominated for five Ovation Awards by the L.A. Stage
Alliance. Lori created and co-hosts
KidneyTalk!, a interview program available as a web-streaming podcast as
well as a number of other programs that help people who have kidney disease. She continually encourages patients to tell
their stories, and her contributions toward improving the well-being of people with chronic illness are
widely recognized.
Click here for list of
programs.
Lori's Story
When doctors put two-year-old Lori Hartwell on dialysis after her kidneys
mysteriously stopped working, they didn’t expect her to live. That was the first
--but not the last-- time she beat seemingly insurmountable odds to survive, and
she continues to improve the statistics today.
As a young patient, Ms. Hartwell encountered the pioneering stages of renal
replacement therapy. She was the youngest person in the state of California
ever to be placed on peritoneal dialysis (a cleansing of the peritoneum in the
abdominal cavity). Following 12 years on
dialysis (including hemodialysis, which cleans the blood) and three kidney
transplants―the last of which took place in 1990 and continues to serve her
well― she has emerged as a powerful example of how people with chronic illness
can lead complete and productive lives.
The insightful, often humorous and touching story of how Ms. Hartwell chose to
live life rather than succumb to its obstacles is laid out in her book,
Chronically Happy - Joyful Living in Spite of Chronic Illness, which
describes her approach to fulfillment by taking simple, logical steps in order
to realize one’s dreams. Chronically Happy is the first book written by a person
with kidney disease about the illness ever to reach national distribution.
Career
Ms. Hartwell began her career in the renal field as a technical sales specialist
for HemaMetrics, developers of a hematocrit-controlled hemodialysis technology. She then accepted
the position of Western Regional Sales Manager for Medcomp, distributors of
vascular access catheters, where she oversaw company activities in seven states.
These positions enabled her to visit more than 500 freestanding and
hospital-based dialysis units in 30 states. As such, she was able to develop a
broad-based, multi-faceted view of the
U.S.
renal patient population, and to witness the importance of a mutual
understanding between patients and healthcare providers in the quest for quality
care.
This broad-based, first-hand knowledge of patients and kidney disease led naturally to publishing where Ms.
Hartwell became editor of the medical journal Contemporary Dialysis &
Nephrology and of the lay journal For Patients Only. She was the content publisher of the popular
Web site iKidney.com, which served the entire renal community.
Combining this experience with her knowledge of renal disease from both the patient and industry
perspectives, Ms. Hartwell established Hartwell Communications in 2000, for
which she consulted on and created patient-related educational materials. She wrote and
produced “Communication Prescription for the Renal Care
Professional,” a 60-minute video that shares practical advice, creative communication concepts, and stories of hope
from people who live with kidney disease as well as from veteran renal care professionals. This video, which won a
2001 Aegis Award for its production quality, illustrates the positive impact that renal care professionals can have
on people’s lives.
Ms. Hartwell continues to travel the country giving motivational and educational presentations to renal healthcare professionals and
patients, both at national nephrology conferences and at the regional/local level.
Ms. Hartwell realized one of her most ambitious dreams to date when, in 1993,
she founded the Renal Support Network (RSN) to instill
“health, happiness, and hope” into the lives of those affected by chronic kidney
disease (CKD). The influence of this patient-led organization, which started out
as a Southern California grassroots effort, now extends across America. RSN’s mission is to identify and meet
the non-medical needs of people affected by CKD, whether they are in the early
stages of the disease, on dialysis, or with a kidney transplant. RSN provides
service, support, and advocacy to patients and their families and builds
coalitions within the renal community.
One of the most adventuresome programs of RSN is
KidneyTalk! a talk-show style podcast with new episodes every other
week, which Ms. Hartwell created in order to present information to the kidney
community more palatably in a light, bright and breezy format. To help her realize this goal, she enlisted
actor/director/producer Stephen Furst, a kidney transplant recipient well-known
for comic roles such as Flounder in “Animal House,” and, in a more serious vein,
Dr. Axelrod in the Emmy-award winning television show, “St. Elsewhere.”
Patient Advocacy
As person who has lived successfully with chronic kidney disease, Ms. Hartwell
has a passion to give patients with chronic illness a reason to live and hope
for the future. Her motto, “An illness is too demanding when you don’t have
hope,” is heard throughout the U.S. nephrology community and has informed the development of the many programs
within the Renal Support Network. She has advocated on the national level, speaking with congressional and state
leaders about legislative issues affecting the kidney community and giving
testimony before the Joint Advisory committee of the Food and Drug
Administration. By example, she encourages other patients to take a positive step by taking active roles in the
many patient-directed programs of RSN.
Public Service
Ms. Hartwell works with elected officials to advise on the impact of current and
potential policies on people with chronic illnesses. She has served as chair of
the Patient Advisory Committee for the Southern California Renal Disease Council
and is a board member of the California Dialysis Council and Kidney Care
Partners. She has been a consultant for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services’ Clinical Performance Measures Project on Vascular Access. Ms. Hartwell was appointed to serve on former
California state Governor Gray Davis’ State Rehabilitation Council.
Ms. Hartwell’s passion lies with giving people with chronic illness a reason
to find hope for the future. Her battle cry, “An illness is too demanding
when you don’t have hope,” is presently reverberating throughout the renal community.
View Lori's full bio here:
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More from Lori |
Chronically Happy: Joyful Living in Spite of Chronic Illness
*Read Chapter One
Right Now!
*
Purchase Chronically Happy.
*
Download Chronically Happy
from Amazon Kindle.
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Lori's bi-weekly podcast about all things related to the renal community. Lori and co-host Stephen Furst stream
Health, Happiness & Hope across the internet!
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"How to Make the
Holidays Hassle Free - and Add a Sparkle of Joy!"
(from KidneyTimes.com)
Read Article:
HTML /
PDF |
"Who Lives?"
from Nephrology News and Issues: Viewpoint
Read Article:
PDF |
"One Friend Can Make a Difference"
from Dialysis & Transplantation
Read Article:
PDF |
"Top Ten Concerns Patients Have for Bundling Dialysis Services"
from Dialysis & Transplantation
Read Article:
PDF |
"Adding a Little More PEPP to the Renal Community"
from Nephrology News and Issues
Read Article:
PDF |
"For the Love of Butterflies"
from Nephrology News and Issues
Read Article:
PDF |
"Two Trees in the Forest"
from Nephrology News and Issues
Read Article:
PDF |
"Patients Educating Patients"
from Nephrology News and Issues
Read Article:
PDF |
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More About Lori |
"Chronically Motivated"
by Mark E. Neumann
from Nephrology News and Issues
Read Article:
PDF |
"Inspiring Hope: Meet Lori Hartwell"
from Transplant Experience News
Read Article:
PDF |
"Nascar Angels"
(video clip)
watch it here |
"CNN Local Edition"
with Brad Pomerance
(video clips)
Lori Hartwell Interviews
Watch #1 --
Watch #2 |
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Lori's Lines |
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from the
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Buttons are Helping Me
Keep it Together
(Fall/Winter 2010)
Read Article: HTML /
PDF |
Turning Scary Emotions into Hope for a Wonderful Life
(Fall/Winter 2009)
Read Article:
HTML /
PDF |
A Second Chance
(Spring/Summer 2009)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Telling Your
Story - One
Person at a Time
(Winter 2008)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Excuse Me! What am I Ordering?
(Fall 2008)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Visualizing a Healthy You
(Summer 2008)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
What My Pets Teach Me
(Spring 2008)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
The Resilience of the Human Spirit
(Winter 2007)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Build Your Own Sandcastle
(Fall 2007)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Aspirations for the Future
(Summer 2007)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Persistence and Hope - A Winning Combination
(Spring 2007)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Personal Maintenance Agreement
(Fall/Winter 2006)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Pay it Forward
(Summer 2006)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
KidneyTalk! Arriving in June
(Spring 2006)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
The Birth of RSN
(Winter 2005)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Uncertainty
(Fall 2005
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
weKAN and We Did!
(Summer 2005)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
Welcome from Lori Hartwell
(Spring 2005)
Read Article:
HTML / PDF |
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