I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on May 02, 2007, 09:44:20 PM
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Dialysis is now closer to home
By Catherine Buday/Staff Writer
GateHouse Media
Thu Apr 26, 2007, 09:00 AM EDT
Marlborough -
Eighteen years of diabetes have robbed Al Hill of a finger, half of his right leg and, ultimately, the functioning of his kidneys. Three times a week, the Marlborough resident must spend five hours hooked up to dialysis equipment that flushes waste from his body – a treatment that leaves him fatigued but keeps him alive.
Until recently, Hill’s wife Patty would drive him nearly 18 miles round-trip to Framingham for these sessions. But today, Hill can get his treatments at Renal Care Partners, a Marlborough-based dialysis clinic about a minute from his home.
“This is a godsend…a gift,” said Hill last week, as he relaxed under a purple blanket in the clinic’s treatment room. “My wife takes care of me 24-seven, and this gives her more time. This is also nice because I can get here early in the morning.”
With the number of kidney patients expected to grow as the population ages, dialysis clinics are a growing business. The Marlborough clinic, which opened in January, is one of 12 Renal Care Partners clinics along the East Coast.
“Hypertension and diabetes are the most common causes of kidney failure in the US,” said Dr. Humaira Mahmud, medical director of the clinic. “These problems are quite prevalent here because of the elderly population. The number of patients with end-stage renal disease is increasing very rapidly. The bottom line is that this new clinic can help a large number of people with chronic kidney disease.”
The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 3.8 million adults nationwide suffered from kidney disease in 2003, and nearly 43,000 people died from it.
“We see a growing number of patients on dialysis, and we are seeing more dialysis clinics popping up all over,” said Lou Auger, center director for the Marlborough clinic. “Kidney disease tends to hit the elderly, and most people’s kidneys diminish over time.” Diabetics, those with uncontrolled high blood pressure, and patients with hereditary kidney diseases often need dialysis, she said.
Right now Renal Care Partners serves 17 patients, most of them from Marlborough and Hudson, who once traveled farther away for their treatment. Auger said she expects these numbers to grow.
When kidneys fail, they can no longer produce urine and as a result, harmful wastes build up inside the body. Dialysis machines do what the failed kidneys once did: cleanse the body of waste. Through a system of needles and catheters, the patient’s blood cycles through a cleansing system and is returned to the body.
While dialysis often weakens the body temporarily, Auger said that the clinic’s machines have technology that minimizes this impact. “They have more control over the fluid removal, and they set electrolyte levels so that dialysis is not as hard on the body,” she said.
“Everybody feels washed out and tired after dialysis, but nowadays most people can still maintain a job.”
Mahmud said that the clinic is designed not only to be convenient for Marlborough-area patients, but also homelike and cheerful.
“I wanted big windows so that people could see outside, because they spend a big chunk of their time here,” she said. “They can be depressed sometimes when they visit, and we want it to be as inviting as possible.”
A staff of two nurses and two technologists oversee treatment, and cozy blankets, magazines and televisions keep patients comfortable and help them pass the time. Auger said that the center hopes someday to have a mobile dialysis system that will enable patients to be treated in their homes.
Hill said he usually feels very tired after treatment, but after a short nap at home he is “rarin’ to go.” And the convenience of a nearby clinic has helped make the time commitment for dialysis a little more bearable.
“When I first found out that I needed dialysis, my wife asked me how I felt about it and I told her I wasn’t looking forward to it,” Hill said. “But she told me, ‘this is like a part-time job that you’ll go to three times a week. Your paycheck is that you are still alive.’”
http://www.townonline.com/marlborough/homepage/x980683759
PHOTO: by Mark Fisette
Kidney dialysis patient Al Hill, of Marlborough, is a regular visitor to Renal Care Partners, the new clinic at 246 Maple St. in Marlborough. His wife Patty usually accompanies him.