Memorial
Medical Center in Port Lavaca is proud to offer our community a state-of-the-art
Kidney Dialysis Center. Located in Memorial Medical Plaza on the corner
of Highway 35 and Virginia Street in Port Lavaca, the Kidney Dialysis
Center features ten stations, each equipped with a large, overstuffed
reclining chair, a Fresenius 2008H machine, adjustable reading lights
and color television with cable access. The renal dialysis facility
also features personal patient lockers for the storage of personal
belongings while at the facility.
The staff of Memorial
Medical Center's Kidney Dialysis Center offers patients a combined
30 years of experience in the care of the End Stage Renal Disease
patient. The staff consists of a Nephrologist Medical Director, RN
Nurse Director, RN, LVN, Masters Level Social Worker, Dietician and
a Chief Technician in the technical department.
Memorial Medical
Center's Dialysis Center houses a state-of-the-art water treatment
room equipped with a computerized reverse osmosis machine, carbon
tanks, water softeners, ultrafilters and ultra violet lights that
enables the staff to treat the water used in hemodialysis treatments.
For patients who
desire medical options, Memorial Medical Center's Dialysis Center
has transplant agreements with Christus Hospital, Veterans Administration
Hospital, UTMB Galveston and Memorial Hermann Hospital of Houston,
the later two being affiliates of University of Texas Medical Schools.
Healthy kidneys,
perhaps more than any other system in the body, help to maintain the
constant balance of homeostasis in the body. The percentage of kidney
dialysis patients over the age of 65 increased from 5 percent to 27
percent between 1973 and 1988. Today over 130,000 people in the United
States are in need of dialysis treatments. Kidney disease is more
common in the black and Hispanic population. Hypertension and Diabetes
are leading causes of renal failure in the United States. Patients
of the Kidney Dialysis Center typically receive treatments, as prescribed
by their physician, three times a week from 3 to 5 hours, depending
on the patient's size and condition.
Realizing the
growing need for a service of this type for residents of Calhoun County
and the surround region, Memorial Medical Center made the opening
of the Kidney Dialysis Center a top priority. Thanks in large part
to a generous donation from Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Bauer of Port Lavaca,
the Kidney Dialysis Center became a reality in 1999.
For more information
about Memorial Medical Center's new Kidney Dialysis Center, please
call (361)551-2566.
