Davita educates clients and community about kidney disease

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Kidney Care

Davita educates clients and community about kidney disease

By ROBIN Y. RICHARDSON , News Messenger

Sunday, August 19, 2007

It can hit you at any age.

It attacks any gender and any race at any given time.

But, with the proper diet, education and treatment, patients can survive kidney disease.

"It's a very important part of healthcare," said Dr. Shobha Shakamuri, a nephrologist/kidney specialist, at Davita Dialysis Center in Marshall.

Dr. Shakamuri said kidney disease not only impacts patients, but their families as well.

"It disrupts their lifestyle," she said.

Lenita McDaniel, 64, can attest to that. She and her 41-year-old daughter are both dialysis patients at Davita.

"When I first started it was really hard," said Ms. McDaniel, whose renal kidney failure stemmed from diabetes. "It was a complete different way of life. But, after I received information, I knew it was to help us."

A day's journey

Spending four hours at a minimum of three days out of the week on dialysis machines has become a way of life for patients. It is one they have to get adjusted to for survival.

"They have to have treatment to sustain their life. Without it, they could die," explained Sandra McPhail, a registered nurse and facility administrator at the center on Pinecrest Drive.

And patients usually make the best out of their time, bringing anything from iPods and CD players to laptops to keep them occupied while their machine filters fluid from their bloodstream.

"Most like to sleep," said Elanderia Rowe, a renal social worker.

Patients like Doris Jackson can be seen wrapped up in a blanket with headphones attached to her ears. When she is not working in her puzzle book, she tunes into the TV set at her station.

"They all have their own TV and we monitor their vital signs," Ms. McPhail said.

And because dialysis is such a dramatic lifestyle change, Davita strives to educate patients and their families about the disease and treatment.

"The more education the better," Dr. Shakamuri said. "If they are educated, a lot will do much, much better."

A CELEBRATION

To increase awareness and education, the Dialysis Center on Pinecrest recently had a luau-themed picnic outdoors to honor their patients and educate the community about kidney disease.

"It turned out really nice," said Ms. Rowe, sharing how the smell of "kidney friendly" barbecue chicken tickled noses.

Neighorhood children, shoppers buying groceries next door and even members of Marshall High School's band stopped by to partake in the picnic and learn invaluable information.

"We like our events to be community focused," Ms. Rowe said. "Davita has a whole department dedicated to educating people with high blood pressure and diabetes on how you can slow the process of kidney disease or get on dialysis."

At the picnic, the staff and patients donned straw hats and leis to fit the occasion. Island music echoed throughout the lobby, serenading patients.

A feast of barbecue chicken, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs and a fruit salad, made from recipes found on the Davita Dialysis' Web site, was served.

Patients and community members also received goodie bags filled with literature on kidney disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Blood glucose record books were also distributed as well as guides to living a healthy life while on dialysis.

Home health agents also provided information.

"It's something we did to celebrate with our patients," Ms. McPhail said of the picnic. "We just wanted to do something fun to make them be happy and think of something other than coming here three days a week."

Jeffery Adams, who has only been a patient for a month, appreciated the informative picnic.

"It's really good to get some awareness," the 58-year-old said.

"We did get a lot of information from the dialysis center," he said.

The active Beckville resident, who exercises regularly, had to get used to sitting idle for a lengthy amount of time to receive treatment.

"I'm not used to being (anywhere) on time and sitting around for four hours," he said.

But, he knows it is important.

Adams, who is a candidate for a transplant, lost his kidney in 1993 due to a tumor. The other one also started failing during that time.

He and his wife will soon receive training to prepare him for home care.

"He will be set up with a machine at home," Ms. McPhail said.

The causes

While hypertension used to be the number one cause of kidney failure, it is now diabetes, Dr. Shakumuri said. However, if those things are controlled, the chance of kidney failure will reduce.

"That's real encouraging," Dr. Shakamuri said. "It will help prevent kidney disease in diabetics and vision loss."

According to Dr. Shakamuri, the disease seems to be more prevalent in the African American community and Hispanics in this area. Oftentimes, patients are oblivious that they even have kidney failure or diabetes mainly because they never see a doctor, she said.

She believes that community resources need to be spent on prevention management than disease management.

"Four years is the average life span of a dialysis patient, but there are some patients that live 30 years," she said.

The ones that live longer, healthier lives are the ones that control the underlying problems of diabetes and hypertension.

And although dialysis is a part of treatment, a lot of treatment is up to the patient," Dr. Shakamuri said.

"Self care is the best care," she stressed. "Education is key."

So is a proper diet.

The diet

In addition to dialysis treatment, patients also have to alter their diets to live healthy lives.

"They have a very restricted diet," said dietician Ann King.

To her, the diet is just as part of the treatment as getting on the dialysis machine.

"We stress high protein foods," she said. Patients are also advised to limit their salt intake.

Ms. King said it can be very difficult for patients to have to condition themselves to a new diet.

"It is a tough diet," she said. "I think it's very frustrating to them because a lot of their favorite foods they can't eat.

"We try to offer alternative suggestions," she said.

Many "kidney friendly" recipes are available to help them. One recipe, a special fruit salad, was used for last week's picnic.

"We grilled the chicken and didn't season anything," Ms. King said.

No one could tell the difference. It was just that good.

Dr. Shakamuri loved the idea of the picnic, especially since the meal was specially made to suit patients' dietary needs.

"One of the keys here," she said of the picnic, "is you can have a wonderful diet still and avoid things that is bad for you.

"They're putting a lot of effort into this. I think that is fantastic," she said. "There's plenty of education being given. Education is key."

Plus, the more family support they have around, those are the ones that will be more successful," Ms. King said.

Contact features editor Robin Y. Richardson at 903-9275965 or via e-mail at ryrichardson@coxmnm.com.

 
 
 
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