It is not widely known that life-saving treatment is offered three days per week on Donald’s doorstep, but East Wimmera Health Service’s Dialysis unit has been in operation at the Donald campus since 2006.

Initially it began in the east wing with two treatment chairs; however, is now located in the west wing. With three comfortable treatment chairs and three dialysis machines in use, the unit is able to offer hemodialysis to those who require it in the region.

It might not be something fully appreciated by the majority of the population who have fully-functioning kidneys, but for those who are facing renal failure, and possibly awaiting a transplant, the treatment is frequent and lengthy.

To add a couple of hours’ travel time on top of the period of time spent in the treatment chair is an enormous ask of someone experiencing poor health.

Process

Kidney dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally. Two needles are inserted, one to take the blood from the body to the machine, where it is sent across a special filter to purify and take off excess fluid; it then returns the purified blood to the body via another needle insertion point.

This process can take anywhere from three to five hours and is performed three or more times a week, depending on the patient’s individual needs. To have a dialysis unit within the local region is an absolute blessing to those people who rely on the treatment for survival.

Survivor

One such “survivor” is Wycheproof’s Paul Groves, who not only had to go through chemotherapy treatment for leukemia in 2019, he was also born with reflux nephropathy, suffering renal failure in September 2023.

Although his leukemia had gone into remission, his body was in a weakened state, and Paul had to face ongoing treatment to support his failing kidneys. He spent six weeks staying in Bendigo hospital while his medical team ensured the dialysis would be effective, he travelled for treatment three times a week before he was gratefully transferred to Donald’s unit.

“I didn’t even know Donald had a dialysis unit,” Paul said. He continued travelling to Bendigo three times a week for about a month before someone from his church mentioned the closer-to-home solution. Once the enquiry was made at Bendigo’s dialysis department, it was a relatively easy transfer for Paul to attend the closer location, and of course, this places less of a strain on local patient transport services as well.

Due to the presence of leukemia, Paul’s case is unique and complicated, not allowing eligibility for a kidney transplant. He faces a long road of dialysis ahead so the convenient location of this unit only one town away has, at the very least, lightened his considerably heavy load.

Satellite unit

The team at the Donald campus operates as a satellite unit of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, ensuring all the nurses are fully and professionally trained in all areas of hemodialysis. The team consists of campus manager Genette (Heslop) Milburn, and nurses Jenny Murray, Princy George, Selmimal Paulose, and Dhanya Thomas, and it is these friendly professionals and the dialysis unit itself which is the only one of its kind within an 80 km radius. It is helping people like Paul and so many others live the best quality life available to them, without the hassle of travelling hours to receive the treatment which is keeping them alive.

Well done to East Wimmera Health Service Donald Campus for continuing this essential service for so many years, providing top notch health care in our regional location.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 5 November 2024.