 Kudos
Kudos to the Kootenay Boundary Renal Program, where the number of home hemodialysis patients has risen from one to nine in only a year and four months. And nurse educator Katy Burke is convinced that’s just the beginning.
"I hope to train five or six more people over the next year or so," says Katy, who has worked at the Kootenay Boundary program - which covers the area from Greenwood to the Alberta border and from Revelstoke to the US border – since 1981.
In the late ‘70s, says Katy, there was an active home hemodialysis program in the East Kootenays. "Basically there was no access to dialysis unless you did it at home," she explains. "People would have to go to Vancouver for training on these large, bulky machines – it was very complicated and there was a lot of spouse-helper burnout."
Through attrition, the program dwindled to two patients in the ‘90s. The establishment of a provincial independent hemodialysis program in 2004 provided the opportunity for Maureen Lewis, now Interior Health renal manager, to take the training, in turn teaching home hemodialysis to a patient in Salmo (who has since had a transplant) and one in Castlegar.
In addition to working part time at the transplant clinic, Katy took on the role of home hemodialysis patient educator in 2007.
"When I started, there were four patients already identified as good home dialysis candidates," she says. "I put up a poster in the unit to interest more people and it grew from there."
To date, Katy has trained eight patients, each of whom was nervous at first but with her guidance, successfully completed training.
"Most people are hesitant initially, whether it’s fear of needles or just reluctance to take on something new," says Katy. "But ultimately home hemodialysis is very do-able, especially when patients realize that they are capable of being competent and can appreciate the many benefits that doing home hemodialyisis will bring them."
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