Kidney Matters - Issue 14 - 2021

4
Modern-day heroes: two of our
incredible Advocacy Officers
retire from the service
Our team of Advocacy Officers are our front line; they are the trained professionals,
often patients themselves, who support, guide and reassure us when our own journey
through chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not going according to plan or we need
someone to speak up on our behalf. We say goodbye and thank you to Kate Cresswell
and Rob Finnigan.
Kate Creswell has been an Advocacy
Officer covering the South West,for
nine years. She chose to be an
Advocacy Officer after her father
was diagnosed with CKD and needed
dialysis.
Kate’s father was a long-term cardiovascular patient.
He had lived a fairly normal life, but his journey as a
kidney patient started when a malignant tumour was
found on his right kidney. This kidney was removed and,
because the remaining left kidney was not functioning
well, he had to start dialysis.
Seeing the impact this had on his life, Kate took early
retirement and her parents moved in with her and
her family. In 2012, Kate saw an advertisement for an
Advocacy Officer. She took the chance, applied for the
role, and started her journey supporting kidney patients.
The role of an Advocacy officer varies, but at its
heart is supporting patients. This may be by helping
complete application forms for benefits, enabling
“This job has changed me.
We are not an emergency
service but often we are the
last chance saloon.“