"Dialysis Unit set to open in a few weeks"

By Erin Tully-Musser, SIX NATIONS

It has been years in the making and the White Pines Wellness Centre will soon be hosting a dialysis unit. Carl Haynes, from the St. Joe's dialysis unit in Hamilton, said that he expects the dialysis satellite centre will open in the next couple of weeks.

The unit will open with six stations that will do two shifts, three days a week. Haynes said that he expects that the unit will eventually be running at twice that capacity.

"We are opening with a waiting list and we have a 12 patient capacity to start," said Haynes. "I know something is in the works to ramp up to full capacity so it can be six days a week and twice the patients. As to when that will happen I don't know."

Haynes, who will be the technologist on site, said that the major benefit to having the dialysis units right on the territory is that patients won't have to drive to Hamilton. He said that patients who receive the treatment do so three days a week for 3-4 hours at a time and sometimes the drive home after is difficult.

Haynes also talked about the requirements that patients need to meet before being accepted into the centre.

"Someone can be accepted as a patient long as they meet the basic health requirements because we don't have an emergency service like a hospital," said Haynes. "Let's face it, if something happens to you there aren't a lot of options. Dialysis is a life saving treatment but it

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can potentially have negative consequences, things can go wrong. If you're unstable and need a bed you're not dialysizing here, you have to be able to sit in a chair and get yourself to and from."

Aboriginal patients are on the top of the list for treatment but the unit will also service the surrounding area.

"Priority is being given to Aboriginal patients but it's not limited to the reserve by any means. It's a geographic region so I know there will be some patients coming from Caledonia, Hagersville, Cayuga and surrounding areas," said Haynes. "For the initial batch, priority will be given and after that it's sort of a first come first serve basis."

Haynes had a dialysis machine set up at the Six Nations job expo last Wednesday. He spoke to the visitors about how he got into the dialysis field and what kind of education and training he needed to get there.

He told interested youth and adults that to enter the field they needed to complete a college or university degree and also participate in an in-­house training program at the hospital.