MOUNT OLIVE TWP. – Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7, toured the Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) Kenvil Dialysis Facility on Friday, June 5 and later announced his support for legislation that would improve care for people with chronic kidney disease.

Lance is co-sponsor of the bill, the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act of 2015, H.R. 1130, S. 598).

His 7th District includes the Morris County municipalities of Mount Olive, Chester, Chester Township, Dover, Long Hill Township, Mine Hill Township, Mount Arlington, Mount Olive Township, Netcong, Roxbury Township, Washington Township and Wharton.

The Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act supports improvements in the research, treatment and care of chronic kidney disease to benefit more than 636,000 Americans living with kidney failure which is known as end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, according to a statement.

Of those in kidney failure, 430,000 rely on life-sustaining dialysis care to survive, including 12,616 in New Jersey. The bill also would give patients with ESRD the choice to enroll in Medicare Advantage.

“The health care team at the FMC Kenvil Dialysis Facility is delivering high quality care to patients,” said Lance, a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. “As a cosponsor of the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act I am working in Congress to ensure patients have access to the important services they need.”

Donna Buglisi, clinic manager for FMC Kenvil Dialysis Facility, said the proposed legislation supports greater patient choice, coordinated research programs, and economic stability for dialysis facilities.

“We believe this legislation would strengthen the delivery of care to dialysis patients including those we treat in Kenvil as well as the millions of Americans living with kidney disease,” Buglisi said.

Advocates have long stressed that federal policies are needed to provide patient choice and to ensure access to life-sustaining dialysis, to increase research into CKD, and to create stability in Medicare’s crucial ESRD program, the statement said.

The proposed legislation would improve patient outcomes through care coordination, expand access to traditionally underserved patient populations, and set the U.S. on the path towards a cure through efficiently managed and coordinated biomedical research, the statement said.

...

Carol Betts couldn’t stop smiling when she walked into the bright, new dialysis unit at the QEII’s Halifax Infirmary on opening day in March. Knowing she would be spending 12 hours a week in the unit — likely for the rest of her life — the space was a welcoming site not only for her, but for all the other patients who will receive life-saving treatment with her.

“The old facilities are nice but they’re crowded,” says Carol, a grandmother who lives in Lower Sackville. “I don’t dread coming in now. It’s a lot nicer when you have a nice, bright unit to come to.”

Situated next to large windows, the new dialysis stations are not only brighter than those at the Dickson building at the QEII’s VG site, but are much larger and more comfortable for patients. They include televisions and QEII Wi-Fi access to help patients pass the time. Carol, who is in her third year of dialysis due to kidney disease, says having the option to watch a game show on television will make the dozen hours a week she spends on dialysis much easier.

The unit includes 12 dialysis stations - four new stations and eight that have been moved from the Dickson building. The additional stations mean more patients can be treated each week and the QEII can better meet the growing demand for dialysis in Nova Scotia.

Located near the Halifax Infirmary's Summer Street entrance is also good news for Carol, who uses a walker to get around. It’s also easier for her family members who drive her three times a week to dialysis appointments.

Patients who come to the QEII’s Halifax Infirmary from across the Maritimes to have inpatient procedures such as cardiovascular or orthopaedic surgery will be the biggest beneficiaries of the new unit, says Dr. Ken West, head of Nephrology.

“Until now, inpatients at the Halifax Infirmary needing dialysis treatment had to be transported to the VG site. This new unit allows for safer and more effective management of their dialysis,” says Dr. West.

The new unit means these patients won’t have to travel by ambulance to get their dialysis treatment, freeing up a lot of ambulatory services. Before the unit’s opening, as many as eight patients a day were transferred to the Dickson building for dialysis treatment.

Having eight more dialysis patients receive treatment daily because of the new unit is also good news for the province. “Nova Scotia has one of the highest rates of dialysis in the country,” says Dr. West.

Demand for dialysis services in Nova Scotia is growing at a rate of two to three per cent a year, he says, pointing to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity as the primary causes of renal failure.

“We planned for the future,” says Anne Hiltz, director of the Pharmacy and Renal Program at the QEII, adding that there is room to expand the new unit.

Funded by the province’s Department of Health and Wellness, the new $3.5-million unit will treat 48 patients each week. The dialysis unit at the QEII’s Dickson building remains open with 34 treatment stations.

Currently, more than 450 patients receive dialysis treatment three times a week at the QEII and its satellite units in communities such as Berwick and Truro.

“Anything we can do to make the experience better is a good thing for our patients,” says Anne.

...