Dialysis unit to open at Amherst hospital

AMHERST – Michele Leblanc couldn’t hold back the tears on Friday, April 29.

Instead of being ones of sorrow, they were tears of joy upon learning that several months of worry were coming to an end with the commitment to put a temporary dialysis unit in place this summer at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre.

Eleven Cumberland County residents are traveling to the Dr. Georges L. Dumont Hospital in Moncton for life-saving kidney dialysis treatment three to four times a week. Those patients were told in early March they might be shut out of the service because they’re not from New Brunswick.

While the hospital said it would continue looking after the patients, the fears weren’t resolved. Now, Nova Scotia is allocating $900,000 to establish a six-station dialysis unit at the regional hospital near Amherst.

“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” said Leblanc, who is past-president of the Amherst Area Kidney Foundation. “Since we received the news in March that we could no longer receive dialysis at the Dumont we didn’t know what we were going to do.

“This is not optional, it’s life or death.”

Due to staffing challenges at the Moncton hospital, the head of Nova Scotia’s renal program said continued treatment of out-of-province patients is no longer guaranteed.

David Landry said the temporary dialysis unit in Amherst will support up to 16 patients when it opens, possibly as early as July, with capacity increasing to 24 patients after the first year.

The temporary unit will be located in the surgical unit of the hospital.

The unit will remain in place until the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre redevelopment project – promised in 2020 – is complete. That project includes a 12-station dialysis unit as part of the redevelopment of the hospital’s emergency department.

It will also be in addition to three existing units in the northern zone, including at the Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro, All Saints Hospital in Springhill and at the Sutherland Harris Memorial Hospital in Pictou.

Landry said efforts to repatriate patients to Amherst intensified when New Brunswick health officials made them aware of staffing challenges at the Moncton hospital.

“We were worried we might get into a situation where Moncton was unable to provide the service and what would be left for Nova Scotia residents, to go all the way to Halifax or Truro? We put the plan together in about two months and I’m happy with it,” said Landry, adding the renal program’s goal is to increase access to treatment for a growing number of kidney patients across the province.

Landry said the interim unit will not impact the dialysis unit in Springhill.

“Springhill will stay open and Cumberland will have six additional seats patients can utilize each week,” Landry said. “That will look after up to 24 more people.”

Leblanc said patients receiving dialysis in Moncton have been concerned about who is going to cover the drug costs associated with the treatment. She said they’re covered in New Brunswick by the renal program, adding it’s her understanding people are responsible for their own drug coverage in Nova Scotia.

Landry said coverage for prescription medication would be available for beneficiaries of the Nova Pharmacare Programs and others may have to access to private insurance plans. For those without coverage, the province has the option of paying the full amount.

He expects health officials in Nova Scotia will reach out to their counterparts in New Brunswick to begin the transition to the unit in Amherst. He said patients won’t be forced to go back to Nova Scotia for service, but it’s hoped most, if not all, will.

Landry is urging dialysis patients to reach out to the renal program if they have any questions or concerns.

Sharon Gould, president of the Amherst Area Chapter of the Kidney Foundation, said the announcement culminates a quarter-century of work by her organization.

“I remember back in 1997, when they were looking at what to put in the new hospital, we were asking them to include a dialysis unit because of the number of people who had to travel to Moncton for dialysis. Over the years, we’ve continued to lobby and we were told we’re on the list, but in those years we saw dialysis units put in other hospitals that were behind us on the list.”

Gould said she can’t understate the significance of the province’s announcement since dialysis is not an optional treatment. Patients must receive dialysis three, sometimes four, times a week and for some, that means going across the Tantramar Marsh to Moncton and spending a day having their blood cleaned.

She’s happy for those patients who have been waiting for the news and feels sad for those who lost their battle against kidney disease.