Shore Health System, in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will open the Eastern Shore’s only kidney transplant clinic at The Memorial Hospital at Easton in January.

Once a month, the staff of the Shore Health System Kidney Transplant Clinic will offer appointments to evaluate and prepare individuals who are candidates for a kidney transplant. Adam Weinstein, MD, a nephrologist and medical director for this service, says, “Opening a kidney transplant clinic in Easton allows Shore Health System to offer the best of university-level care with the convenience of being close to home. Our patients will have to make fewer trips to Baltimore for the most advanced medical care we can offer.”

Working with Dr. Weinstein at the Shore Health System Kidney Transplant Clinic will be University of Maryland Medical Center surgeons Stephen Bartlett, MD, who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery, and Benjamin Philosophe, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery and Head of the Division of Transplantation. Also on the clinic team are Susan Ostovitz, BSN, RN, MBA, University of Maryland Medical Center transplant administrator, and Trish Rosenberry, RN, Shore Health System clinic coordinator.
During their initial visit to the clinic, prospective kidney transplant patients are scheduled for a daylong appointment, which begins with an orientation to the program and a meeting with a nurse, who collects the individual’s medical and personal history. The clinic assessment continues with a meeting with one of the transplant surgeons and consultations with members of the clinic’s multidisciplinary group, which includes nephrologists and a social worker, dietician, cardiology nurse practitioner and patient financial assistance counselor.
This clinic visit also begins an extensive testing process. Some lab testing is begun during the first clinic appointment. The patient will also leave with an individualized checklist of other tests that must be completed, such as chest X-rays, EKG, colonoscopy, mammograms and abdominal ultrasounds.

For more information about the Shore Health System Kidney Transplant Clinic, call 410-822-1000, ext. 5050.