reporter seeking dialysis patients to interview

[DebS]

I'm a reporter in Chicago seeking hemodialysis patients willing to talk about their experiences. How has your life changed after going on dialysis; the good, the bad, the ugly? What do you want the general public to know about dialysis that you think most people have no idea about? What kind of patient community has been formed within your center? Looking for people who will let me use their names in the story. I am especially interested in meeting patients in the Chicago area.

Please e-mail me immediately at deborahlshelton@aol.com or dshelton@tribune.com.
My number is (312) 222-4808.
Thank you!

[okarol]

  Hi Deb,
Nice to see your interest in diaysis and welcome to IHD!
I am curious how you became interested in a story about hemodialysis. As you may know there is home hemo and in-center hemo. Do you plan to interview patients who do peritoneal dialysis as well? There are a lot of wonderful people here who have years of challenges and experiences! I hope you can shine a light on the ups and downs of living on dialysis.

 

okarol/moderator

[DebS]

Because I have limited space, for this first story I plan to focus on in-center hemo. Later stories may look at other types of dialysis.
I'm interested in writing about this because there are so many people on dialysis, yet most people know nothing about it or what it's like. I'd like to do a story that focuses on people, not technology.
Thanks for writing.

[Sluff]

Debs,

I really think the dialysis community really needs an interview like you talk about, who is your audience, or better worded who will hear the interview? I think the audience needs to know about Ihatedialysis.com, not because we want the coverage but because this site is so informative and has been a source of comfort, knowledge, and like minded people who understand the trials, tribulations of being on dialysis. We have members in the Chicago area as well as Milwaukee, hopefully they will come forward.

Please go to the introduce yourself section and start a new thread and post your introduction then everyone will have an idea of who you are and what your objective is.

Sluff/ Admin

[DebS]

I've covered health issues for 20 years, but have not seen any stories giving an in-depth look at the world of dialysis. If anyone is aware of any, please let me know. I'd love to read them for background. My interest is in both the medical and personal aspects of dialysis. My objective is to educate and enlighten. I write for a large metro daily so the audience is very broad -- basically folks who read newspapers.

[boxman55]

Debs I stated in my e-mail to you that I would be willing to be interviewed. You have my contact info. Boxman

[stauffenberg]

Because it is an extremely radical, socially disruptive thing for someone to do to say that there is a terrible health problem in the community which is treated so poorly that the lives of patients amount to a living death, almost everything you will read about dialysis will present a falsely positive picture of what really goes on.  The rate of scientific progress will be exaggerated, the lifestyle of patients will be seen through rose-tinted glasses, and the medical profession will receive the same praise it always gets, however inadequate its performance.  We dialysis patients would appreciate it very much if you would present the stark truth of the horrors of renal failure and shake up the smug, self-satisfied healthcare community, wake up the government medicare system, and alarm the general public, which seems to think dialysis is a picnic, or even a cure. 

For starters, look at the series of articles in the New York Times in the mid-1990s describing how the use of a for-profit dialysis delivery system in the U.S. resulted in a death rate among dialysis patients double the average in the rest of the industrialized world, where there was no for-profit dialysis delivery.  Because Meidcare funding for each dialysis session was fixed in the U.S., the only way private providers could increase their profit was by cutting corners in their delivery of treatment, which they did with all the maniacal ruthlessness of good capitalists interested only in the bottom line.  They were aided in this effort by the right-wing federal agencies, which were deliberately neglectful in their supervision of complicance of the for-profit delivery system with Medicare standards.

[fluffy]

awesome! the more ppl understand about this condition the  better! im from montreal but if you wnat to interview me im more than willing.

[kitkatz]

My daughter lives in Milwaukee if you want a personal view from someone who has a mother on dialysis for the past 8 and a half years. It might make a good sideline to talk to siblings, kids and parents of people on dialysis. Everyone sees it differently.  I can give you an email if you want to talk to her. PM me.

[Bette]

I am in the Chicago area and am currently on Paritoneal dialysis.  I have been on Hemo, and had a transplant in the past.  You can send me a private message if you would like to interview me.

[Rerun]

You can write how Medicare is going to go broke at the rate dialysis is eating up funds.  The bottom line is money so anyone with a "pulse" is on dialysis until they are dead and I think they still dialyze them for a few days just to get the payment! 

I'm being facetious, but it amazes me how people will do anything to live one more day!  They drag these old folks in with legs cut off and fingers cut off moaning during the whole treatment.  Come on!  Hell has got to bet better than that!

[okarol]

You can write how Medicare is going to go broke at the rate dialysis is eating up funds.  The bottom line is money so anyone with a "pulse" is on dialysis until they are dead and I think they still dialyze them for a few days just to get the payment! 

I'm being facetious, but it amazes me how people will do anything to live one more day!  They drag these old folks in with legs cut off and fingers cut off moaning during the whole treatment.  Come on!  Hell has got to be better than that!

Truer words were never spoken!