Were you on dialysis during the Earthquake of 8/23/2011?

[Meinuk]

First off, I hope that everyone is well, and this was just a scary inconvenience. A 5.9 earthquake hit Virginia this afternoon - prime in-center dialysis time, and it was felt all up the Eastern Seaboard.  (My office in NY was evacuated).

I'd like anyone who was on the machine, either at home or in center to please comment on: 

How did the earthquake affect you?  How did your facility react?  What could have been done better?  What worked? Did the facility staff talk to you about what was going on?  Were you taken off the machine?  Was it simply ignored?

Now is the time, while things are fresh in our thoughts to make a list of what worked, and what didn't work. This way, we can all be better prepared for the next time.

Thanks,

Anna

And just as a refresher, here is a link to:
Preparing for Emergencies: A Guide for People on Dialysis  (English)  http://www.ipro.org/index/cms-filesystem-action/esrd/preparing_for_emergencies.pdf

Prepárese para Emergencias: Una guía para personas en diálisis  (Spanish) http://www.ipro.org/index/cms-filesystem-action/esrd/preparese_para_emergencias.pdf

These booklets should have been mailed to you when you first started dialysis.  If you didn't get or don't remember getting the New Patient Orientation Packet (NEPOP), here is a link to the materials sent:  http://www.esrdncc.org/index/new-patient-orientation-packet

And here is a GREAT resource for Dialysis Emergencies:  KCER the Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition:  http://www.kcercoalition.com/

[Willis]

Well, technically--since I'm on PD--I'm on dialysis ALL the time. 

I was at work and felt the quake at about 4.x level for about 10 seconds near Charlotte, NC. Caused a lot of talking but everyone soon returned to work. Nothing damaged except billable hours. 

 

[MooseMom]

Meinuk, I clicked onto the link re new patient info packets, and it brought a question to my mind.  If I understand correctly, new dialysis patients fill out some CMS form, and that information is entered into a database.  But what if that new patient (ie, me) has private insurance and so will not be on Medicare for 30 months?  At what point does the CMS or any other official entity (other than my insurance company) become informed that I am on dialysis?  Will I be getting one of these information packs?

[Rerun]

Your social worker should give you one or a photocopy of emergency situation suggestions.  It is quite ridiculous what they expect you to keep in a backpack that you would need a mule to haul to a safe place.  You all know I like NePro the dialysis drink.  I just keep extra of those and I'd grab those and run.  It is a meal in a can and 8oz of fluid.  It would keep me alive for a few days and beyond that....

What do you say Anna?

I hope everyone made it through.  This earth is getting crazy.

[cattlekid]

MooseMom, I'm still on private insurance and I had to fill out the CMS form anyhow when I started D.  I got the big packet o' information from CMS not too long after that. 

Meinuk, I clicked onto the link re new patient info packets, and it brought a question to my mind.  If I understand correctly, new dialysis patients fill out some CMS form, and that information is entered into a database.  But what if that new patient (ie, me) has private insurance and so will not be on Medicare for 30 months?  At what point does the CMS or any other official entity (other than my insurance company) become informed that I am on dialysis?  Will I be getting one of these information packs?

[MooseMom]

MooseMom, I'm still on private insurance and I had to fill out the CMS form anyhow when I started D.  I got the big packet o' information from CMS not too long after that. 

Oh good...thanks for that!  I expect to be inundated with paper!

[Meinuk]

There are many forms that are filled out once a person starts chronic outpatient dialysis.  They are filled out by the facility, and signed by the patient.  Many providers have many different contracts, but the form that has been mentioned here is the CMS 2728 form. This is an attestation that a person has started chronic dialysis, signed by both the MD and the patient, filled out by the facility (any facility that is covered my medicare - the majority in the USA are Medicare facilities), then submitted to the ESRD Network covering your area, and the person living on dialysis is entered into a database - a person on chronic hemodialysis is tracked from day one. No matter what the insurance.  The clock starts clicking on the 30 month coordination of benefits (plus 3 month wait if you are in-patient) at the first chronic outpatient dialysis treatment (the insurance lobbyists want to protect their profit).  But the data is really for many reasons, all having to do with Medicare.

The NEPOP mailings are sent out between two - three months after a person has started dialysis.

And as far as what to do during a disaster?  Rerun, I think that I am with you.  I grabbed my Sweet Potato Chips (the last of my lunch) and my phone, and I evacuated the building with all 100 of my co workers. I was kinda screwed anyway had it been a major earthquake in my area, as my car was on the lower 3rd level of the underground parking garage.

Speaking of "Go Bags".  When I was badly infiltrated at DaVita Life Care in NYC, they had to call an ambulance.  I was so annoyed that I couldn't just walk to the emergency room, and I was annoyed that they pumped saline into my already infiltrated arm.  When the ambulance attendant grabbed my dialysis bag (Large LL Bean Boat bag with a pillow, laptop, blanket, water, work paperwork and my handbag), he cracked "You don't travel light, do you?"  If I had had a good arm, I would have punched him.

My advice:  Think about what can save you in an emergency.  What you would need to get back home, if you are away from home, and keep it with you.  Don't go overboard.  Rerun, I have seen you go to dialysis, fly to Vegas and scurry under a table to sit with your friends. I think that with a bottle of Nepro, you could change the world.  (but have your cellphone charger, emergency numbers and dialysis prescription and med list in you handbag just in case!)   

(8/24/2011 edited to fix the COB by adding the wait period)

[MooseMom]

Can you tell me more about what sort of forms a new patient has to fill out?  I'm sure there's a shedload of them, but I confess to not knowing what they are.  I'm sure different facilities have their own nifty-neato forms but am also sure that there are lots of standard forms, too.  In case I'm really sick on that first day, I'd like to have some advance warning of what I am signing.

[sullidog]

I'm glad you posted these, when I started at my center, I was given these but then they expected me to read these myself, well duh I'm blind so I can't but now that you posted them, I did. Basically though when I started I knew nothing about emergencies, etc. until last year when they finally showed me how to clamp.

[boswife]

I know our friend M3Riddler was ON dialysis when it happened.  He did disconnect and i hope he'll see this and come to share his eperence ...

[jbeany]

Whoops - they were talking on the radio about feeling it all the way here in Michigan.  I was having an insomniac bookworm night last night, staying up to finish a book, so I was still sleeping in when it hit here.  I bet that's exactly the time my cat started yowling and stomping all over me, though!

Poor baby - an earthquake in the morning and a massive thunderstorm tonight.  She's gonna need kitty prozac soon.

[texasstyle]

they reported on the news that at our local hospital someones tracheotomy tube came out because the "machine" fell over.

[Meinuk]

Can you tell me more about what sort of forms a new patient has to fill out? 

You should direct your questions to the facility that will be providing your dialysis. Each provider varies in their patient intake forms.

[pagandialysis]

Nope, I was in bed asleep. I had no clue it happened until after I woke up.