Cornwall Hospital Dialysis Clinic Celebrates 20 Years of Service to the Community
2022-09-13
The Dialysis
Clinic at Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH), a satellite location of The Ottawa
Hospital’s Dialysis Department, first opened its doors to patients in September
2002. Before the opening of the clinic, local patients had to travel to Ottawa
for treatment or to be assessed by a kidney doctor.
Today, the
Dialysis Clinic at CCH administers nearly 10,000 treatments every year to
approximately 30 patients each day, 6 days a week; and a kidney doctor from The
Ottawa Hospital visits twice a week to support the team and assess patients.
Having a clinic onsite also means the hospital can offer inpatient dialysis
treatments as needed.
Typically,
patients require 4-hour treatments, 3 times a week, some for years until
hopefully a kidney donor is found.
“The impact of
partnering with The Ottawa Hospital to bring a dialysis unit to Cornwall has
been profound for our community; we’ve saved thousands, if not tens of
thousands of trips to Ottawa since we’ve opened in 2002,” said Jeanette
Despatie, CCH President and Chief Executive Officer.
Tobias, a local
dialysis patient from Akwesasne, recalls when he needed to travel to Ottawa for
his treatments. “It made for an extremely long day because I would leave at
6:00 am and get home at 6:00 pm, and I would have to do that a few times a
week. I am much happier coming to Cornwall for treatment instead, and the staff
take good care of me,” said Tobias.
Some changes to
the clinic over the years have included renovating the unit as part of the
hospital’s redevelopment project in 2014 and adding additional capacity to
enhance access.
Despite
some changes, the unit has some of the same dedicated staff that it did in
2002. Krista St-Jean, the unit’s charge nurse, is one of them.
“I’m just happy to be helping patients
live a longer and healthier life, and happy to see how this clinic has improved
their quality of living,” said Krista, who is proud to say she has been caring
for patients at the clinic since the day it opened.
