New Dialysis Center Meets Area's Growing Needs

On a Tuesday afternoon, there were no patients at the Fresenius Medical Care Center in Galloway Township, but there was plenty of activity.

A class of 40 people was learning about how to care for those with kidney disease, a disease an increasingly higher number of people are faced with.

The center, located at 44 East Jimmie Leeds Road, Suite 102, treated its first patient on Sept. 16. The clinic’s capacity is 110 people, and just about a month’s time, the clinic has 10 patients.

“The reason we opened here is because it’s convenient to meet the growing needs of those with the disease in the area,” said William Brezsnyak, director of operations for Fresenius Medical Care. “The other clinics in the area are maxed out.”

The other Fresenius Medical Care clinics in the area are located in Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City. This is the first dialysis clinic in Galloway Township.

“We’re slowly going to grow the program,” Brezsnyak said.

Although the capacity for the clinic is 110, patients can also do their treatments at home, for those in need of peritoneal dialysis treatments.

Patients who need hemodialysis treatments must be treated at the clinic.

“Being treated at home gives the patients more freedom,” Brezsnyak said. “They don’t have to come into our clinic for appointments three times a week.”

Patients who are treated at home need a partner to help them. Both the partner and the patient are fully trained by the staff at Fresenius, and Brezsnyak said any member of the family or friend can be trained to treat the patient.

He said 10 percent of all people with the disease are treated at home, and two of the 10 patients the clinic in Galloway currently sees are treated at home.

Fresenius treats 240,000 patients nationwide, and employs 40,000 staff at 1,800 clinics nationally. In New Jersey, there are 44 clinics.

The clinic in Galloway also has a kidney transplant support system, and works with Thomas Jefferson Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

It also features 19 dialysis treatment stations, including one "isolation station" for patients who are still being diagnosed. It has the computerized CHAIRSIDE charting and electronic health record system with touch-screen monitors at dialysis stations, for clinical staff to accurately enter and securely track critical patient information, treatment stations designed for patient comfort and convenience that feature individual modern touch-screen media systems, wireless Internet access and reclining treatment chairs.

It has a 25-member staff, including a physician or a nurse practitioner on site daily.

Dr. Priyesh Thakker, a nephrologist (kidney specialist) with Renal Nephrology Associates in Northfield, provides medical director oversight at the new facility, Breszynak said.

The staff also helps those just learning they have kidney disease get over the initial shock.

“We have patients that are with us for years,” Brezsynak said. “If they survive that initial period, their life expectancy is as long as yours or mine. Part of the process is dealing with the loss of bodily functions, and we take it seriously. There’s a period of adjustment we do provide, and we also provide nutritional counseling and social work services.”

It begins when patients first walk in the door, to a waiting room filled with paintings of trees and flowers, designed to give the clinic an "at-home" feel. The treatment stations are in a wide open area with several windows to allow light in, brightening up the entire clinic.

Fresenius Medical Care also offers a Treatment Options Program (TOPs), Brezsynak said. There are educational seminars to inform at-risk patients and their families about chronic kidney disease and all available treatments for kidney failure, including the various modalities of dialysis and kidney transplant, at no additional cost. Sessions are open to the public and are held monthly.

For information, call 1-877-867-7543 (1-877-TOPS-LIFE).

For more information on the clinic in Galloway, which is now accepting new patients, call 609-652-3070 or 1-866-434-2597.

The clinic is currently serving patients on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and holds training classes on Tuesday and Thursday.