On March 4, 2013, Northwest Kidney Centers will open a new dialysis clinic in Enumclaw, the 15th center for the 51-year-old nonprofit health care provider.
Northwest Kidney Centers Enumclaw at 857 Roosevelt Ave. E. will include five dialysis stations to serve 30 patients. Hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The new center brings dialysis services closer to the residents of Enumclaw, who until now had to drive at least 10 miles to the nearest dialysis centers in Auburn, Puyallup, Tacoma or Gig Harbor.
Northwest Kidney Centers invested more than $2 million in the building at 857 Roosevelt Ave. E., which was vacated by the U.S. Forest Service.
Patients will visit the center three times a week for a three- to four-hour dialysis treatment. Dialysis replaces the function of healthy kidneys for those with chronic kidney failure - using a machine to filter wastes and extra fluid from the bloodstream. Without dialysis or a kidney transplant, the patients would not survive more than a week or two. With dialysis, medications and a healthy lifestyle, many can live well indefinitely.
Anyone interested in dialysis services should contact the admitting office at 206-292-3090.
Northwest Kidney Centers also offers a renal specialty pharmacy and free prescription delivery to patients.
It provides an array of classes for people who have just learned their kidneys are failing, to help them delay or avoid the need for dialysis.
Patients at the new Enumclaw clinic may choose to participate in studies at the Kidney Research Institute, collaboration between Northwest Kidney Centers and UW Medicine. Those who are interested may sign up in advance to be contacted for a study looking at conditions that affect them.
Northwest Kidney Centers keeps people in western Washington alive with dialysis therapy, educates the public about kidney health, and collaborates with UW Medicine in the Kidney Research Institute. Northwest Kidney Centers is one of very few community based, nonprofit dialysis providers in the country. Founded in 1962 in Seattle, it was the first out-of-hospital dialysis program in the world, and it is still a model in the field. Its mission remains critical. One in seven American adults has chronic kidney disease, up 30 percent in the last decade. For more information, visit www.nwkidney.org.
