The issue of Dryden’s lack of kidney dialysis services has again been raised with the Board of Directors at the Dryden Regional Health Centre.
A petition, featuring over 1200 signatures in support of acquiring local dialysis units has been brought forward.
Dryden resident and dialysis patient Darlene Pollard started the petition before Christmas.
Pollard travels to Sioux Lookout three days a week for treatment as part of the satellite program set up by the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Pollard is in a wheelchair and says traveling back and forth every week is taking its toll.
“It’s a long day for me. If it were closer, it wouldn’t be so hard on us. It kind of ruins your whole week. You haven’t got time to do anything and you don’t have much of a social life.”
Pollard says she was offered a home-based treatment unit but is unable to operate the machine on her own. With no one able to be trained to use the machine, she is forced to continue her out-of-town trips for treatment. Her suggestion is to bring treatment to Dryden to make life easier for those who have to travel out of town.
Wade Petranik CEO of the DRHC and Secretary of the Board of Directors says it’s not a matter of bringing in the unit, it’s all about the finances.
“It’s not about the equipment, the equipment is the most minor part of the service. It’s actually establishing the staffing costs. You need specially trained nurses to staff a unit and deliver the dialysis treatment. The reason Dryden doesn’t have one is that we just don’t have enough patients in our catchment area to make it economically viable.”
In order to set up a unit, 24 patients are needed to establish the service. Currently, Dryden has only three patients who require the in-clinic treatments.
Doug Bergman has been following the debate for years. Travelling to Sioux Lookout three times a week for dialysis, he says the issue is complex. As Dryden patients play a big role in dialysis programs in Sioux Lookout and Fort Frances, he says those health care centres would likely oppose the establishment of services in Dryden.
“I can still do the driving,” said Bergman. “But when you look at all the patients who have had to move away because they can’t do the driving anymore. I’d like to see a machine or two here — it would serve all of us. Time will tell.”
Petranik adds that the centres in Sioux Lookout and Fort Frances are satellite units based and monitored in Thunder Bay by a nephrologist (kidney specialist) and support for another program is impossible due to a shortage of specialists and the current work load put on the nephrologists in Thunder Bay.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has established the Ontario Renal Network to assess the current situation and to ensure timely services no matter where the person lives, promote home treatment where available and support for the patients.
Petranik says that although the Board of Directors has no authority to establish a unit, they understand the situation dialysis patients are dealing with in the area.
“We certainly sympathize with patients that have to travel. There’s no doubt it’s a tremendous hardship for them and their families but really, it boils down to a numbers game.”
He adds that hopefully, the newly established Ontario Renal Network can make new alternatives available for dialysis patients in Dryden in the future.
- Sarah Madussi
