Children’s Hospital New Orleans opened its new Dialysis Center this month. The center offers outpatient therapies including hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, and continuous renal replacement therapy for patients with acute and chronic renal failure in the inpatient setting. The new, expanded Dialysis Center includes six private treatment rooms where the parent or caregiver can stay with his or her child during both hemodialysis and apheresis treatments. The space also provides convenient access for families, located on the first floor of the clinic building at Children’s Hospital, and is staffed by a team of eight pediatric nephrology providers and nurses who have extensive training in pediatric dialysis and apheresis.
“Our new Dialysis Center provides a spacious and comforting environment, along with state-of-the-art equipment, that will allow Children’s Hospital to continue to improve the lives of our patients suffering with kidney failure for many years to come, in a space designed just for kids and their families,” says Diego Aviles, MD, service line chief for nephrology at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Each treatment room features a new, state-of-the-art Baxter Phoenix Hemodialysis machine with components that mimic the work of a real kidney and is designed to meet the individualized needs of each patient. In addition, the space provides access to a new Central Water Processor that produces purified water to dialyze a patient multiple times a week.
“As the only pediatric dialysis center serving the state of Louisiana, I am incredibly proud of the lifesaving care provided by our nephrologists and dialysis team, in a space that now matches our expert level of care,” says John R. Nickens IV, president and chief executive officer at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. “These vital services give families hope when they are challenged with a difficult diagnosis, and we are honored to provide a spacious and bright new center that offers optimal care for our patients and their families.”
With the opening of the new space, the Children’s Hospital Dialysis Center has also expanded its hours of operation to allow more scheduling options for families, including children who are on the road to transplant. Since 1995, Children’s Hospital New Orleans has helped 175 children transition from being dialysis dependent to regaining their quality of life through kidney transplant.