(Photo courtesy Flash Media Services)
That’s Jim Smith, who lives in Indianola, on the Kitsap Peninsula, but is stopping here in West Seattle – not too far from home – tomorrow and Thursday, during his national road trip to “educate the public about home dialysis,” according to a media advisory we received today. Jim is a Northwest Kidney Centers patient, and he’ll be visiting the West Seattle Kidney Center at 4045 Delridge Way SW in his motor home, equipped with a home hemodialysis unit from NxStage. Spokesperson Cynthia Flash explains that you’ll be welcome to talk with him “while he dialyzes himself in the comfort of his motor home. Home hemodialysis allows patients to decide when and where to dialyze, and also allows them to dialyze more often during the week, which is better for their long-term health than the typical three-per-week schedule for patients going to dialysis centers.”
She says this technology isn’t new, but stil isn’t widely used, either, but can allow dialysis patients more freedom: “Jim is able to travel the world with his mobile dialysis machine. He went on a week-long Caribbean cruise with his wife Claire last year and he’s also traveled with the machine to Bermuda, Jamaica and Canada. Jim has even outfitted his motorcycle with a trailer to haul the dialysis machine!” She says Type II diabetes and high blood pressure led to Jim’s kidney failure four years ago, and he has been a dialysis patient since then. You are invited to visit him in the motor home outside the Kidney Center 2-6 pm both days, tomorrow and Thursday.
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