Boundary Hospital is getting improvements to its renal unit after receiving $30,000 in funding from Interior Health and the Grand Forks Hospital Auxiliary.
The unit also received more than $213,000 in funding for additional equipment from the BC Provincial Renal Agency, says Karl Hardt, Interior Health Communications.
The funds have allowed the unit to be moved to a larger space in the hospital and also to purchase three replacement dialysis machines, as well as a fourth machine.
“We’re getting all new machines in April and that’s from BC Renal,” Hardt says.
The unit takes care of six patients from across the Boundary at the moment and stable patients receive the treatment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The unit also provides renal health education, nutritional information and social support for residents with chronic kidney disease.
One of the patients who receives dialysis treatment at the unit is Grand Forks resident Fred Starchuk.
Starchuk has been on dialysis for almost eight years and says the new room is a change and is still deciding what he thinks of it, having just started treatments in the new room.
“I think it’s going to be OK,” Starchuk says. He adds that without the dialysis he wouldn’t be alive today.
Another patient is Dolly Klinosky, who says the facility has made a huge difference for her, since without it, her and other patients would have to go to Trail for treatment.
“I’m really glad that I’m in here instead of in Trail,” she says, adding that her son brings her to the unit twice a week from Greenwood.