For immediate release: November 20, 2009 (09-184)

“Your leadership and dedication to Northwest Kidney Centers, as well as its patients and the local community, exemplifies the very spirit of this award,” Gov. Chris Gregoire wrote in a letter to Jackson notifying her that she would receive the award.

Secretary of Health Mary Selecky presented the award to Jackson today in Seattle.

“Feather” Reid served under U.S. Sen. Warren G. Magnuson for almost 20 years, advising Congress on initiatives such as Medicare and Medicaid and working to expand federal support for research. He later became chairman of the Washington State Board of Health. In 1994 the Washington Legislature honored Reid by creating this annual award.

“Northwest Kidney Centers is a leader in treating patients, along with research and education,” said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. “Joyce Jackson has worked for more than a decade to improve the outlook for people with kidney disease.”

Jackson joined Northwest Kidney Centers as president and CEO in 1998, after 15 years as an administrator at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Jackson has worked to improve health care for kidney patients on a regional, state, and national level, through community benefit services, public education and treatment of kidney problems, support for sound public policy on behalf of kidney patients, and fostering research to cure kidney disease.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award. Like Feather Reid, I strongly believe in creating health care policy that helps people lead lives that are as full, healthy and independent as possible. Like places around the world, Washington State now faces an epidemic of kidney disease, fueled by increases in diabetes and high blood pressure. My organization, Northwest Kidney Centers, will continue to care for people whose kidneys have failed, help others avoid or slow down kidney disease, and apply the best science to stop kidney disease once and for all,” said Jackson.

In the past two years, under her leadership the organization has:

• Established new dialysis facilities in SeaTac, Kent, and on First Hill in Seattle.

• Brought dialysis for the most medically fragile patients to south King County, a better alternative than the three-times-a-week travel to downtown Seattle that was required before.

• Expanded its training and support for self-administered dialysis. The Kidney Centers’ home dialysis program is now one of the largest in the country. Jackson has raised significant donations for home services, now centralized at Seattle Kidney Center, which opened this year.

Jackson established the educational program Living Well with CKD^TM to educate individuals, communities, physicians, and staff about the risks of chronic kidney disease.

Jackson also led the effort to establish the Kidney Research Institute, a collaboration between the UW Medicine and Northwest Kidney Centers that opened its doors in June 2008. In its first year, the institute secured $8 million in grant funding for kidney-related clinical research.

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