One of the renal center’s home dialysis patients is attended to by, from left, are Barb Perretta, training nurse for the home hemodialysis program, Rich Pandel, director of the Renal Center, Kandy …
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One of the renal center’s home dialysis patients is attended to by, from left, are Barb Perretta, training nurse for the home hemodialysis program, Rich Pandel, director of the Renal Center, Kandy Simmons, peritoneal dialysis coordinator, and Nephrologist Michael Seidman, medical director of the Renal Center.
OGDENSBURG – Dialysis at home is now offered by Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center’s Dr. Ravinder N. Agarwal Renal Center.
Being on dialysis requires a very strict diet where patients must monitor their fluid intake and avoid certain foods. Most patients need to visit a renal center three times a week to receive treatments that last three to four hours. Some patients have to travel an hour or more for treatment.
Home hemodialysis can help eliminate or minimize these problems. Patients no longer have to travel to a renal center and the dietary regimen is not nearly as strict. More frequent dialysis keeps the amount of toxin and water build-up to a minimum, which makes the treatment shorter and may reduce or eliminate many side effects.
The patient and a care partner (usually a family member or friend) are trained by the dialysis center nurses to do treatments safely at home. Doing dialysis more often is closer to how healthy kidneys work.
There are three different home dialysis methods available.
• continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) can be done any time of day or night.
• continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) is done while you sleep by a dialysis machine. The benefits are similar to CAPD.
• The NxStage System One helps make daily and home therapy more accessible. It is the only portable hemodialysis system approved for home use.