Sharyn Kreitzer is working to help save veteran lives one step at a time.
After spending her whole career in the transplant field as a social worker, she has seen firsthand how long the wait is to receive a kidney transplant.
On average, more than 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month, with 13 people dying each day waiting for a transplant, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
With around 1,700 veterans currently on the waitlist at either a VA Transplant Center or Military Hospital in the U.S., Kreitzer has been on a mission to help veterans receive the life-saving kidney transplant they need.
In 2015 while working as an administrator at the Bronx VA, Kreitzer was a part of launching the seventh VA kidney transplant program and saw firsthand the crisis veterans were facing with renal failure.
Kreitzer knew she could be a better advocate and decided to begin the nonprofit Donor Outreach for Veterans, or DOVE, three years ago to locate living kidney donors for higher-risk veteran patients.
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“It’s a very powerful thing to see someone’s life transformed from being ill to getting their life and hope back,” Kreitzer said. “It takes a very special group of people to go through surgery to improve someone else’s life.”
The nonprofit’s mission is to find, educate and screen prospective kidney donors and then match those living donors to a veteran awaiting a transplant.
DOVE also provides individualized support to any eligible Veteran who is actively listed for a kidney transplant at any US Transplant Center.
When put on the national transplant waitlist, people are registered to be matched with a deceased donor, which can take between 5-8 years depending on one’s blood type.
“The goal is to help this deserving community get off the waiting list,” Kreitzer said. “If I could let people know they could help a vet, I think it would inspire people to move forward and learn more about donation.”
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Although right now DOVE is a small program with only one volunteer and a board of directors, the nonprofit has helped provide 19 veteran kidney transplants within 13 months.
“That’s 19 people who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten their life back,” she said. “And by getting those vets a transplant, that helps non-vets get higher up on the deceased donor list.”
Kreitzer has conducted more than 500 donor intakes since January 2020, with many donors stepping up to the plate who have never served in the military or come from military families.
She said her relationship with Walter Reed Military Medical Center and some of the VA transplant centers have helped amplify what she is doing with DOVE.
“I think people want to be a part of helping veterans, and if they knew who they were giving their kidney to, they would be more inspired to do so.”
The VA recently expanded its live donor care. Effective this past July, eligible veterans living beyond their specific VA Transplant Center radius can now look for care outside the VA system.
“The only remedy for getting people off the kidney transplant list is to increase living kidney donation,” Kreitzer said. “Community by community we can remedy the scarcity and people will stop dying waiting for an organ.”
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Kreitzer said she hopes to find enough funding in the future to expand her nonprofit and have a full-time employee with her so she can expand her work.
She also said she plans to also help children who need a kidney.
“This work is so important and such an enriching experience for the donors,” she said. “I know there are so many other people out there who are eager to connect to vets but don’t know how and I hope to be able to connect with them and educate them on how to be a part of saving a veteran’s life.”