Belleville’s dialysis clinic is adding enough capacity to meet the projected local need for roughly the next decade.

Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith and Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP made the announcement Friday morning alongside staff of Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), which operates the Belleville satellite dialysis unit and seven other regional dialysis clinics in southeastern Ontario.

Ontario’s health ministry will provide nearly $4.9 million in one-time capital funding to renovate the 6,766-sq.-ft. leased space, Smith said. It’s located in a building at the corner of College Street East and Airport Parkway.

There will then be five more stations joining the existing 15, boosting capacity by 30 patients. At present, the clinic serves 71 Quinte-area patients, with 15 more receiving dialysis at home.

“We know there are advantages to being close to home,” Smith said, acknowledging the roughly 12 hours per week many patients spend in dialysis treatment.

The expansion includes more services for people with kidney-related conditions; that, too, is expected to reduce the need for patients to drive to Napanee, Picton or Kingston.

Kramp described his riding’s huge geographic area; it stretches from roughly the southern tip of Algonquin Provincial Park to Kingston’s western border. That means many hours of driving for care, Kramp said.

He said the clinic expansion is therefore necessary.

“Keep asking for a little more,” he said. “It’s always going to be needed.”

“This funding is going to go a really long way” to meeting the needs of the next 10 years, said Dr. Renate Ilse, KHSC’s chief operating officer.

She praised the “amazing work” of the clinic’s team.

“They have been through a lot in the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ilse. “They have been able to keep it running every day.” She added more safety measures are now in place.

“We are thrilled to be investing in the infrastructure we have here,” said Brenda Carter, KHSC’s executive vice-president of quality and partnerships and regional vice-president of cancer care. She said patients face a “very tough” dialysis routine which may last a lifetime.

“Since 2017, 27 patients from this area have received kidney transplants,” Carter added. Soon afterward, volunteers of the Transplant Advocacy Association raised the

At Belleville’s Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre to mark the start of Be A Donor Month. Carter encouraged everyone to register at beadonor.ca to be a potential organ donor.

Belleville resident Charlie Benson is a KHSC patient advisor. He spoke of his 30 years of experience with kidney disease and treatment.

“I’ve benefitted from these services and it’s fantastic that it will be easier for people to access this care close to home.”

He received a kidney from his son.

“It changed my life,” he said.

The new services will be provided through a “multi-care kidney clinic” – a multi-disciplinary program to which nephrologists (kidney specialists) refer patients whose conditions are worsening.

Lori Van Manen is the Ontario Renal Network’s regional renal director for southeastern Ontario and KHSC’s program operational director of renal and palliative care

She said the multi-care clinic may include, for example, a dietitian, pharmacist, social worker, the core team of a nephrologist and a nurse.

Van Manen said it helps patients to manage their kidney disease for longer periods.

“We want to slow their progression of disease,” she said, adding it may delay the need for dialysis.

The clinic provides conventional hemodialysis, which cleans the blood through the use of a filter. But 80 per cent of those using home dialysis receive the peritoneal form, said Van Manen. That’s when the peritoneum, a membrane lining the abdomen, is bathed in a solution to extract toxins.

The advocacy group Our TMH formed in 2015 in an attempt to preserve services at Trenton Memorial Hospital. The group has pressed the renal network for a dialysis clinic in the hospital.

Politicians, clinic officials and Our TMH chairperson Mike Cowan group all described the clinic expansion as a “win.”

“It’s a win. It’s not a complete win,” Cowan said. He said it is progress, but Our TMH will continue to call for more services, including dialysis, in Quinte West.

“We’re quite pleased” with the expansion plan, he said. “The most important thing is it’s taking people off the 401.”

Driving Canada’s highway involves both risk – from traffic and weather – and time, he explained.

“Those that are suffering are the least able to handle it.”

The renal network’s Van Manen, meanwhile, said plans are reviewed every two years and that includes monitoring the need in Quinte West.

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