Faith Hospital has opened a dialysis unit so that anyone needing this service no longer has to travel from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman.
The unit, which has one machine and a dedicated nurse, is open from 7.30am to 4pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the one kidney patient on the Brac requiring dialysis treatment.
The schedule is flexible, however, to accommodate other patients such as people who are on holiday or any new Cayman Brac resident patients, explained Joanne Taylor, the manager of the dialysis unit at Cayman Islands Hospital.
The unit can treat up to three patients daily. The nurse who works at the new dialysis unit was trained at CIH.
‘We will review the need for additional services on an ongoing basis depending on demand. We have developed an ongoing nurses training plan to maintain and expand both the Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac dialysis service,’ Mrs. Taylor said.
The total cost for setting up the unit, including staff training, equipment and supplies, was about $143,576, she added.
The unit was established to make the treatment easier for dialysis patients on Cayman Brac.
‘We opened up the unit so patients on the Brac could be repatriated instead of having to move to Grand Cayman to have their treatment,’ she explained.
Minister for Health and Human Services Anthony Eden will officially open the dialysis unit Wednesday.
He explained the importance of having the equipment on the Brac.
‘Promoting healthy lifestyles to reduce the risk of persons developing diseases such as diabetes and hypertension continues to be a top priority for the ministry.
‘We are however, also faced with the reality that the need for dialysis treatment has been increasing by 10 per cent each year for the past four years.
‘Having a dialysis unit on Cayman Brac is a timely response to this growing need. The benefits of such a unit are that residents and visitors on the Sister Islands will have access to this service and the unit can also serve as a backup in the event of a major disaster in Grand Cayman as we had in Hurricane Ivan.,’ he said.
The unit is also part of the long-term strategic proactive approach to provide services to an even wider clientele and to also capitalize on the opportunities of medical tourism, Mrs. Taylor explained.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, the HSA’s dialysis patients had to be transferred overseas for two weeks, which cost more than $250,000.
‘With this unit in place in Cayman Brac, the HSA will be able to accommodate some acute patients from Grand Cayman for a short period of time in a major disaster,’ she said.
The setting up of the dialysis unit was made possible through contributions from the late David Foster and the Civil Service Cooperative Credit Union.
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