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Health authority and GNWT looking at expanding dialysis service in Hay River

The possibility of expanding dialysis services in Hay River is under consideration, but no decision has been made to do it or when it might happen.

On May 29, Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson told the legislative assembly there is a "beautiful" dialysis unit at the Hay River Regional Health Centre, but only enough staff to service eight dialysis patients, and that is simply not enough.

Nurses Kerry Domes, left, and Crystal Canadien stand next to equipment in the dialysis unit at the Hay River Regional Health Centre. Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"The facility itself can easily accommodate more patients," he said. "There are four dialysis machines, but they are each only used twice a day, three days a week. In Yellowknife, I believe they run three shifts a day, six days a week. If we did that in Hay River, we could triple our capacity."

Simpson also noted three residents of Hay River are receiving dialysis treatment in Yellowknife, and are put up at a boarding home meant to accommodate brief stays.

However, he said dialysis patients – many of them seniors – could be there for weeks, months, or even years.

Simpson asked Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy if his department has looked at the business case for increasing staff in the dialysis unit at the Hay River Regional Health Centre so people can stay in their homes.

Abernethy said haemodialysis – the type of dialysis using a machine to eliminate fluid and waste from the body in cases of failing kidneys – is provided at facilities in Hay River and Yellowknife.

"We need to do more to provide those services close to home," he said. "We would prefer not to have people coming from Hay River to Yellowknife when that service is provided in Hay River."

For the government to put new positions in Hay River and expand dialysis service, it has to go through a business planning process and build the business case, which means it has to demonstrate that all opportunities have been explored, said Abernethy. "I am simply saying that is what we are doing in Hay River. When we find a solution, we will make the investment where appropriate."

On the same day that dialysis services in Hay River were discussed in the legislative assembly they were also a topic of discussion during the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority's regular update for town council.

Erin Griffiths, the CEO of the health authority, told councillors that the dialysis unit in Hay River is full.

"So we currently cannot repatriate those clients back to Hay River," referring to the three patients in Yellowknife. "The dialysis program is a territorial program so clients entering the program they can go to either Hay River or Yellowknife for those services."

Griffiths said that some of the clients in the Hay River program are from smaller communities in the South Slave, and some of them have moved to Hay River specifically for the service, while others are commuting back and forth from their home communities.

Griffiths said she is working with the Department of Health and Social Services and Stanton Territorial Hospital on the possibility of expanding services in Hay River with an eye to patients returning home from Yellowknife at some time in the future.

"Right now we're costing that out," she said. "We're comparing the costing between having them stay in Yellowknife, versus expanding the program in Hay River to accommodate them at home."

Later last week, Griffiths told The Hub that the dialysis unit in Hay River has four chairs and eight clients, and is at capacity.

"In order to expand our services in Hay River, we would need additional funding for additional positions and additional resources to do that," she said. "With our current resources and our current staffing, we are unable to take any more clients in Hay River."

Griffiths said the unit already has the equipment to expand the service.

She said that the three dialysis patients from Hay River currently being treated in Yellowknife had to go to the capital because the program in Hay River is full.

Griffiths added the demand for dialysis is expected to increase in the future because of the prevalence of diabetes and other factors, such as an aging population.