Kidney Coach Wants To Create Healthy Communities

Peggy Riggins created the Kidney Party Project as a fun way to get people in the community more engaged with health and wellness. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PEGGY RIGGINS
Peggy Riggins created the Kidney Party Project as a fun way to get people in the community more engaged with health and wellness. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PEGGY RIGGINS

Kidney Coach Wants To Create Healthy Communities

By Tia Carol Jones

Peggy Riggins believes a person’s health is personal and that a personalized approach to health is important. She created the Kidney Party Project as a fun, festive way for people to get more excited about taking their health into their own hands. She likes to say, “give yourself to yourself before you give yourself away.”

Riggins was a registered pharmacist for 35 years before retiring 10 years ago. She loves being in her community promoting health. She is a certified health and wellness coach, as well as a kidney coach.

The Kidney Party Project is scientific, pharmaceutical and Bible-based. Riggins created it because she saw there was a need to fix her community. The first Kidney Party took place in July 2023. She described it as a next level health fair. While she liked the concept of health fairs, oftentimes, there wasn’t any follow-up after the events.

“You get your blood pressure, your get your blood [work], you know your numbers, then you go home and what happens? I want to create an atmosphere where we’re having fun. It’s festive, it’s like a luau,” she said.

At the Kidney Party there is a tiki bar that has coconut water, alkaline water, smoothies and juices. While people are enjoying themselves, they are also doing health screenings. Riggins wants to show people that getting healthy is not boring and it is not hard to do.

“At the end of the day the best thing you can do to support your kidneys is to flush, and flush it with water. We are drinking lots of sweetened beverages,” she said. Riggins uses an app that can show how healthy a drink is.

Riggins is using social media to get the word out about the Kidney Party. Her goal is to reach younger people, so she has embraced social media as a platform for her message. Riggins said that when a person finds their voice, that is how they get healed.

Riggins said that she sees that there are more and more dialysis centers opening in the community. She said that she knows that people can get healthy and wants to ensure they can, by working with vulnerable populations and communities.

“Love is going to set us free to get healthy,” she said.

Riggins is currently studying to be a community health worker. She wants to make sure that people have their needs met in the healthcare industry. She wants to let people know there is a better way and it’s easy.

Riggins hopes that people will have a personal encounter with the healthcare professionals they engage with. She wants people to ask questions of their healthcare providers when they don’t understand something. She said it can make all the difference when it comes to maintaining a person’s health. Riggins is seeing more people get more engaged in their health and wellness. Her phone is ringing with people who have questions about their health.

Riggins is being intentional with the roll out of the Kidney Party Project. She wants to ensure that the parties are taking place in communities where they are most needed. They want to roll it out fairly and equitably. Riggins is looking for people to reach out and let her know where to host the parties.

“At the end of the day the Kidney Party is all about giving hope,” she said.

For more information about the Kidney Party Project, follow Peggy Riggins on Facebook.

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