Dialysis clinic patients sleep through care

Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2008
Overnight boost
Dialysis clinic patients sleep through care
By Jo Ann Mathews
For The Sun News

Mary Leslie leaned toward her husband, Lawrence Leslie, ignored her cane and took his hand.

"I really like nocturnal [dialysis]," she said. "I watch TV until 11:30, turn it off and go right to sleep. The last week they've had to wake me up."

Lawrence Leslie said he had administered dialysis to his wife at their Supply, N.C., home for two years, and that she had received day treatments at the clinic for three years. Dialysis is a process of cleansing toxins from the blood of patients who suffer from chronic kidney failure. When DaVita dialysis services, which operates Southeastern Dialysis Center in Shallotte, N.C., offered in-center nocturnal dialysis beginning July 10, Mary switched her treatments to nights.

"She feels better and has more energy," Lawrence said.

"I'm able to mop the floor and do the dishes," Mary, 72, said, and added that she enjoys the night program because her days are free to keep doctors' appointments.

"We provide an opportunity for patients to have a better quality of life," Tom Gill told the people who attended the ribbon cutting at the center Sept. 14. Gill is vice president of home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and nocturnal dialysis.

In-center nocturnal dialysis offers several advantages, Gill said. Because the process is slower and takes longer, it does a more efficient job of cleansing the blood. Patients at the center choose either a bed or a recliner, each of which has its own television. They use a headset so they don't disturb fellow patients.

"Three patients have gone back to work," said Betty Martin, DaVita regional director, and explained that the center accommodates 12 patients at night and 20 patients during the day. She told of a patient at another facility who chose night dialysis so he could teach during the day. "Under 10 percent of dialysis patients work," she said.

"We are trying to fit all lifestyles," said Lori Todd, administrator at the center in Shallotte. "Hopefully in the future this will be a common modality."

According to the National Kidney Foundation, about 26 million people in the United States suffer from chronic kidney disease and 350,000 are on dialysis. More than 70,000 are waiting for a kidney transplant.

Davita.com reports that diabetes is the No. 1 cause of kidney disease with high blood pressure coming in second. Genetics, autoimmune diseases and other problems may cause it, as well.

DaVita opened the 7,500-square-foot Southeastern Dialysis Center in 1995 and has 1,400 centers nationwide, 75 of them with in-center nocturnal programs. The first in-center nocturnal program in the U.S. opened in Gastonia, N.C., in 1999. DaVita's Wilmington facility is the largest dialysis center in all of North Carolina, serving 200 patients. DaVita provides dialysis for 107,000 people. A DaVita center is in Myrtle Beach and another is in Longs, but neither offers a nocturnal program.

"Nocturnal dialysis is a good thing," said Dr. Sivanthan Balachandran, nephrologist at Coastal Kidney Center and DaVita Myrtle Beach Dialysis Center, both in Myrtle Beach. "It's nighttime and slow. It's better for the patient."

He said Coastal Kidney Center has a building under construction that will accommodate nocturnal dialysis.

"[Dialysis] is a way to continue a good life," Gill said. "I look at it as positive."

He explained that kidney disease becomes more prevalent as people get older, and the average age of those on dialysis is 65.

The center is open for dialysis from about 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Its night program runs from about 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. For information about the center, call 910-754-5563.

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