Dialysis Center Focuses on Family Atmosphere for Patients Video Transcript
CJ Kostecka: Upper Valley Medical Center Dialysis Unit has been serving the community since 1988. And recently, in 2000, we actually have a new facility located on the UVMC campus. Having this on the campus allows our patients access to the hospital. They are able to get lab services, x-rays and any other care provided in the facility.
Dr. Ali: Our most modern hemodialysis facility is located very conveniently off I-75. This facility currently has 22 stations, which are available to provide dialysis related care to our patients with end stage renal disease. Our objective, goal and commitment here at Upper Valley Medical Center Dialysis Services is to provide the best possible care for our patients with end stage renal disease in a nice and friendly fashion.
Meisha Kreinbrink: It’s very important for a center to have a family-oriented atmosphere is because the patients are here for three days a week, four to six hours at a time. Being on dialysis is hard enough; you have dietary changes, you have lifestyle changes, you could have been very active at work and now all of a sudden you are at a facility for three days a week. When you come into a facility, you want to be comfortable, you want to know that you’re safe; you want to know that the people in that facility care about you.
Maynard Watkins: I’ve been on dialysis now, will be five years in December. I’ve had over 700 treatments and I feel better now than I did five years ago. These people, you know, work as a big family, is what they work like. All the techs and so forth, it’s just a good organization.
CJ Kostecka: A lot of our patients feel like they’re treated like family. We see these patients three times a week, four to six hours at a time, we see them probably more than some of their family see them and we know a lot about them. We help them get through crisis they may be having, help them facilitate any help they may need at their home with food, transportation, any heating bills, cooling bills, medications; we’re there to help them. On staff, we have our medical director, Dr. Ali and we also have another physician, Dr. Saklayen who sees the patients here. And we’re staffed with qualified nurses and dialysis technicians who are here to monitor the patients throughout the whole treatment.
Maynard Watkins: I mean the techs that we have here are number one as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been given the option of, you know, doing dialysis at home. I chose not to do that because you have a tendency for your blood pressure to go down while you’re on dialysis. If I were at home, my wife would have to be trained, you know, to look after me and so forth. Where, here, if my blood pressure goes bad, I’ve got three or four techs on it right now to see that I’m alright.
CJ Kostecka: The nurses that we have at the center and the dialysis technicians, we have longevity with our employees and that is a direct reflection of their care and compassion that they provide our patients. They love what they do and it shows in the care that they give to our patients. As a patient sitting there, like I said, for four to six hours that can be really challenging and depressing at times. But our staff really makes sure that they feel comfortable and that we tend to every need that they may have.
Dr. Ali: Upper Valley Medical Center Dialysis Services has consistently been meeting all the local, regional and national standards and benchmarks of care related to the patients with end stage renal disease. Our institution also has a fully functional dialysis access intervention program which is available to insure proper functioning and maintenance of the dialysis access of our patients.
CJ Kostecka: One of the other opportunities that we offer our patients and loved ones and patients who have some type of chronic kidney disease is an education class. It is provided four times a year and it is provided by a nurse, with the help of a social worker and dietician so that we can talk about what are the options for our patients. What are the different modalities that we can offer. Within our own system, we do provide hemodialysis, and that is in our outpatient center and we also provide that in the inpatient center as well.
Dr. Ali: The main ideology behind this class is to empower the patients and make them more aware and knowledgeable about the condition that they have. That way they will be able to do better once they actually reach the end stage renal disease and have to face dialysis or transplant as a treatment option.
Maynard Watkins: When they told me I had to go onto dialysis, I accepted it. A big thing with dialysis is your attitude; how you’re going to handle it. Now, when they told me I was going on dialysis I could’ve went over in a corner and curled up and died, but I’m very active and like I said, your attitude on how you’re going to handle these things. I mean, I’m very thankful that there is such a thing as dialysis. I’ve been asked a couple times whether I wanted a transplant and I said no and the reason I said that is that I’m 83 years old and I want to live as long as I can. But, there is a lot of guys out there in their 40’s and 50’s that’s got some little boys running around or some little kids running around and why should I take a kidney transplant when that person needs it better than I do. That’s my attitude. You know, you’re in good hands when you come here. You know, like I said, the facility, the personnel, you know, if you have to have this, then this is the place to come.
<< Back to video.