Bartlett, patients seek dialysis center for Juneau
The Bartlett Regional Hospital Foundation hopes to establish a dialysis center in Juneau.
Because of the lack of a treatment center here, Juneau residents suffering from kidney failure have been forced to move to communities that can provide dialysis, or must perform dialysis at home, said foundation Director Charlotte Richards. The foundation raises funds for the hospital.
Diabetes, kidney failure, aging and lupus can prompt a need for dialysis, Richards said. There is no getting around the treatment.
"You have to have it. If you don't have it, you die," she said.
At a meeting last summer to assess the need, stories were told about some dialysis patients who had chosen not to continue dialysis. Instead they chose to die rather than permanently leave their family, their surroundings and their community for treatment in Anchorage or outside Alaska, Richards said.
Hemodialysis - dialysis for short - is a process that mechanically eliminates impurities from the blood. The process diverts blood from a shunt implanted in an artery through a dialysis machine, and then pumps the cleaned blood back into the body.
The routine, with preparations, can take eight to 10 hours each time. Performing dialysis three or four times a week, which is the typical need, gives patients a second work week.
"Two people in Juneau now have the machines and are doing this at home, but it is very complicated and exhausting," Richards said.
Machine rental and supplies can cost $5,000 a month. In addition, she said, "You need physician oversight and technicians and registered nurses or a family member to help."
There also is a greater risk of infection when dialysis is performed outside a clinic, Richards said.
Troy Kahklen, 41, performs dialysis at home.
"You dedicate a whole room to it, even though the equipment is getting smaller," said his father, Joe Kahklen, who has formed a committee of four to help establish a dialysis center here.
Troy Kahklen began dialysis at age 28, because systemic lupus has attacked his kidneys, Joe Kahklen said. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Troy Kahklen leaves work at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs two and a half hours early to prepare for dialysis in the evening.
Since 1991 he has been through a kidney transplant, months of dialysis in Anchorage, pneumonia, peritonitis and two and a half weeks in coma. He now works only 31 hours a week.
"When it first happened, it was fairly devastating," Troy Kahklen said. "I had only been married four years and we had just had a son. But the BIA has been wonderful. People have donated leave to me."
He has had the same trained technician, Diane Hoyt, assisting him since 1998. "I'm used to it now, but if something breaks and we can't fix it, my only recourse is to go to Anchorage," Kahklen said.
With the graying of America, Richards believes the demand for dialysis will increase.
A dialysis center would cost about $250,000 just for equipment and training, Richards said. Staffing would depend on the number of patients. A site separate from the hospital is desirable, because it makes treatment less clinical, she added.
Fairbanks now has a clinic with seven dialysis stations. A kidney specialist flies there from Anchorage once a week to oversee the process, Richards said. The same might be done in Juneau.
The Anchorage Kidney Center is interested in assisting Juneau in its effort and has determined 20 patients are needed for a center to break even. Richards is compiling a confidential list of patients and has found nine, including two people in other Southeast communities who may need the treatment.
A meeting on the topic is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Bartlett administration building. For details, call the Bartlett Regional Hospital Foundation at 463-5704.
Ann Chandonnet can be reached at achandonnet@juneauempire.com.