Today is a day worthy of celebration for dialysis patients in the City of Kawartha Lakes. The Ross Memorial Hospital officially kicked off the construction phase of its permanent Dialysis Unit project, with a Groundbreaking Celebration and Public Campaign Launch.

Construction on the new Dialysis Unit will begin immediately at the south-east end of the hospital. The permanent unit will have 15 dialysis stations, and at fully capacity, will accommodate 90 patients. The 5800 square foot addition features three “pods”, with five dialysis stations in each. This design will help our health care team monitor patients safely and efficiently. 

RMH President and CEO, Brian Payne was pleased to announce the awarding of the construction tender to the Bondfield Construction Company of Concord, Ontario. “We look forward to working with Bondfield over the next 12 months as our project comes together. And we know our patients will be anxiously awaiting its completion next fall.”

Right now, 50 people in the City of Kawartha Lakes depend on dialysis treatments. In May, the Ross Memorial Hospital was able to open an Interim Dialysis Unit with 6 stations. To date, 24 patients are getting their treatments at the Ross. This fall, a third shift of patients will be added, bringing that total to 36. 

The rest of our local dialysis patients continue to travel to Peterborough, Oshawa and Whitby for their treatments, three times a week, 52 weeks of the year. “Dialysis treatments last between three and four hours,” Payne says,  “when you add a commute of a half hour or an hour each way, it makes for long days for local patients and their family members who drive with them.”

The Ross Memorial Hospital’s project partners were an important part of the day’s celebrations. Local dignitaries and representatives from the RMH Foundation and Auxiliary were in attendance, as well as  senior members of the Regional Renal Program. 

Peterborough Regional Health Centre serves as the “hub” of the Regional Renal Program, providing medical, biotechnical and other professional training and support to its satellite locations in Cobourg at Northumberland Hills Hospital, and now, in Lindsay. The dialysis program in Peterborough has been operating at capacity for several years. The opening of a new site in Lindsay will help to relieve the patient load.

The need for a local dialysis facility was confirmed when the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care completed a review of End Stage Renal Disease services within the region. They determined that the existing inventory of 148 dialysis spaces in the entire region would not be able to meet the increasing demands of our growing and aging population.

That review showed that 50 people in the City of Kawartha Lakes were traveling to other communities to get their life-saving treatments. By 2012, that number is projected to increase by 55 per cent to 77 people. By 2017, only ten years from now, that figure is expected to jump by another 55 per cent. That means 120 people in the City of Kawartha Lakes will require dialysis service. 

Dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure. The kidneys remove waste and excess water (fluids) collected by, and carried in, the blood as it flows through the body. The cleansed blood returns to the heart and re-circulates through the body. 

Chronic kidney failure occurs when the kidneys lose their ability to do their job. One treatment for kidney diseases is hemo-dialysis. In hemo-dialysis, blood is passed through an artificial kidney called a dialyzer, which does the work of healthy kidneys.