Dialysis doesn’t end travel

Dialysis doesn’t end travel
Sevier clinics can treat Smokies visitors with a little advance planning

By Kristi L. Nelson (Contact)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Every few months, Dawn Barcomb comes from Slidell, La., to her Smoky Mountains cabin to hike and breathe the mountain air.

When Barcomb went into kidney failure in 2004, she saw no reason for that to change. It just meant extra planning — and lost time — to fit in dialysis sessions an hour or more away.

But in January, Barcomb started getting some of that time back. Fresenius Medical Care opened a dialysis clinic near Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center, about 20 minutes from her cabin.

“When I went on dialysis, I did not want to just sit and do nothing,” said Barcomb, who also skis and takes cruises on a ship with on-board dialysis. “So many people won’t travel when they’re on dialysis because they’re afraid to go different places. They just think they’re so limited.”

Dialysis removes waste products and extra fluids from the blood — jobs the kidneys normally do. Most patients need dialysis about three times a week unless they have a successful kidney transplant.

Visitors to the mountains, the beach or other destinations can find dialysis options if they plan ahead, said Terry Williams, Knoxville administrator of Dialysis Clinic Inc., which has operated a Sevierville clinic for at least 15 years.

Ideally, clinics like to have two weeks to a month to get records and make sure there’s a slot available for travelers, Williams said. Most of the time, DCI can accommodate travelers, or “transients,” as they’re called.

Occasionally, during peak seasons like “smack-dab in the middle of summer,” slots are scarcer, he said.

Fresenius Medical Center, which operates dialysis clinics nationwide, saw Sevier County as a “big travel-need area,” said Cindy Sunday, director of FMC Sevierville. “We have travelers scheduled all the way through September. We do a lot of one-treatment visits. Some travelers come every month or two months because they own cabins or condos.”

Dialysis patients often like to go to a clinic owned by the same company as the one they attend at home; “you know what to expect,” Barcomb said. But neither FMC or DCI require transient patients be from their own systems.

Some patients choose to use a clinic system their doctor is affiliated with, even if it means a longer drive, said Dr. Stephen Kiss. Kiss and Dr. Scott Borrelli of East Tennessee Nephrology in Fort Sanders are medical directors of the new clinic and will soon maintain a new office there for their Sevier County patients who previously had to drive to Knoxville.

“Kidney failure is (often) fallout from diabetes, high blood pressure — things that people in East Tennessee have a lot of,” Kiss said. “There’s a lot of patients up (in Sevier County) that have chronic renal failure. … They have to have dialysis three times a week. It’s a major lifestyle change. I think all patients would prefer to go to a clinic close to home.

DCI’s Sevierville clinic runs two shifts Mondays-Saturdays, up to 16 patients per shift. FMC runs a morning shift Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but expects to add days and shifts as patient load increases. Sunday also said FMC hopes to start a “nocturnal” program, where patients can spend the night and get their treatments as they sleep, something DCI doesn’t currently have.

Barcomb said having the clinic close by helps her make the most of her mountain time.

“I can hike Laurel Falls on nondialysis days,” she said.

Kristi L. Nelson may be reached at 865-342-6434.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/mar/18/dialysis-doesnt-end-travel/