Temporary dialysis unit coming for hospital
Patients are crossing the border multiple times a week for treatment in Moncton
Michele LeBlanc couldn’t hold back the tears.
Instead of being ones of sorrow, they were tears of joy upon recently learning 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 travelling 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. “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 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 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 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.
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 … 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.
Gould said she’s happy for patients who have been waiting for the updated news and feels sad for those who lost their battle against kidney disease.
“This gives hope, hope of living a somewhat normal life without having to travel to Moncton and be tied to a machine for several hours several times a week. They can have that treatment at home and that means so much.”
Cumberland North MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin has been lobbying Nova Scotia Health to do something to assist dialysis patients. While pleased with the announcement, she’s concerned it’s going to result in the loss of five acute-care beds at the regional hospital.
“I’ve been assured that in three years when the permanent 12-bed unit is completed, those five beds will be returned to acute-care,” Smith-McCrossin said.
She also plans to continue asking the province to do the same for cancer patients with a cancer-care unit in Amherst. Smith-McCrossin said Nova Scotia cancer patients are being denied oncology treatment in New Brunswick due to human resources challenges there.
“This gives hope, hope of living a somewhat normal life without having to travel to Moncton and be tied to a machine for several hours several times a week.”
Sharon Gould