Dialysis chairs going unused
SARNIA - As many as 18 Sarnia-Lambton residents must travel to London three times weekly for dialysis because Bluewater Health lacks the funds to treat them here.
The travel is exhausting for patients already contending with lost kidney function, said Elaine Hayter, senior development manager with the Sarnia-Lambton branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
"It's like a 10-hour day," she said.
Dialysis is a process that filters blood to remove harmful waste.
"It's just very frustrating to see that patients have to travel back and forth three days a week, whether they feel like it or not," she said.
The agency is working with the Ontario Renal Network to expand the number of outpatient dialysis chairs at Sarnia's hospital. Currently, there are nine in use, enough for 55 patients each week.
Another six chairs are in place but there's no money to operate them, Hayter said.
Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley drew attention to the issue Thursday, calling on Bluewater Health president and CEO Sue Denomy to explain when the remaining chairs will open.
Denomy wasn't immediately available for comment, but communications chief Kim Bossy said the unit is a satellite of the London Health Sciences Centre's dialysis program, and receives funding through the London hospital system.
Officials said Bluewater health is working with the Ontario Renal Network to open another three chairs later this year, to accommodate up to 18 more patients.
Bossy said it takes a minimum of eight weeks to train new staff.
"That cost is in the system no matter what, so why wouldn't you make it for people in their own community?" asked Bradley.
He knows one 84-year-old woman who must make the trek.
"It's distressing enough to be on dialysis, never mind having the trip there, all day there, and then the trip back," he said.
The outpatient dialysis unit at Bluewater Health was increased to nine chairs from six in October, Bossy said.
An intensive care unit dialysis machine also opened in December, meaning patients staying in hospital no longer have to be transferred to London or Windsor.
Hayter said she doesn't know when new funding will be made available.
"The processes are happening, it's just the timing of getting those processes finalized," she said.
Patients are placed in priority for dialysis according to their needs, Bossy said.
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"It's distressing enough to be on dialysis, never mind having the trip there, all day there, and then the trip back," he said. The outpatient dialysis unit at Bluewater Health was increased to nine chairs from six in October, Bossy said.

Next, he headed downstairs. “I'm back in line again,” he said, looking at the dozen or so people waiting in chairs in front of him at the dental station. But he was still much closer to getting helped than the people in the still-growing lines outside.
Camp chairs the Ways and Means Committee, and Upton chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee. They share healthcare jurisdiction in the House. The healthcare reform law require insurance plans to spend 80 percent of their premiums on medical costs,
The Lethabong Tavern in Alexandra, one of South Africa's poorest townships, is a humble affair: corrugated metal roof, plastic chairs, basic pool table. Yet this modest bar is shifting three bottles of King George V Scotch whisky,
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