The new Sargent Family Kidney Care Centre in Grande Prairie is now open.
The ribbon cutting took place on Friday, October 24th. To build this new centre, a $3.9 million investment was made by Government of Alberta, with $1.5 million of that coming from the local Sargent family.
The care centre is in the ex Cancer Clinic area in the QEII Ambulatory Care Centre. This centre will include a multitude of different services to locals who may need it, by improving care and access, new spaces for hemodialysis and home peritoneal dialysis. The revamped area also included rooms where patients can learn to do some treatments from their own home.
The hemodialysis unit has expanded from five to six stations, Andrew Kwan who is a patient care manager for Alberta Kidney Care North, says that this additional seat will go a long way.
“We’ve expanded an additional chair, so we can serve an additional nine patients per week, that is a really big add for our area.”
Even though the ribbon cutting was just recently, patients have began using this area since late August, since this time they have enrolled an additional 32 patients, completely clearing the waitlist that they had previously.
Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Ron Wiebe says a service like this one will help reduce travel so locals can get the help they need.
“It’s always exciting when we get services in our rural areas that are closer to home for our patients, it’s always good when patients don’t have to travel to get the services that they need and deserve.”
