Local facility to offer dialysis services
Linda Sappington
Fresenius Medical Care Polson Dialysis should open near the end of the June.
Linda Sappington
Jason Goode, area administrative assistant for Fresenius Medical Care, explains how city water is filtered and purified in the Polson facility before it is used for dialysis.
Linda Sappington
A dialysis station includes a heated recliner, a wall-mounted television and Internet access.
Linda Sappington
People gather outside the waiting room during Fresenius Medical Care open house May 12. The center expects to open later this month.
Linda Sappington
Visitors tour the Fresenius Medical Care facility in Polson.
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POLSON — A new medical facility east of the Mission Valley Aquatic Center will provide convenient dialysis care right in Polson.
Fresenius Medical Care Polson, part of Fresenius Kidney Care, is a welcome sight for those who normally make the trek to Missoula three times a week for the 4-hour hemodialysis treatment, according to Ronan resident Janet Olson. That, she said, is “a heck of a lot of time” away from home.
Although the kidney care facility isn’t set to open until late June, residents got a sneak peek at the May 12 open house.
Providing local service will improve the quality of life for those with chronic kidney disease, according to Luca Chiastra, regional vice president.
“Being local and being convenient is really going to make a big difference for them,” he said.
The center will provide two shifts of 4-hour treatments Monday through Saturday for up to 12 patients at a time.
Each station has a television screen and wireless Internet access. Heated reclining chairs with massage capabilities provide comfort while the single-use dialyzer — a filter that works like an artificial kidney — removes waste, salt and extra water and returns the blood back into the body with safe levels of potassium, sodium and bicarbonate.
The international, publicly traded company grew from a pharmacy in Germany about 100 years ago to more than 2,400 facilities worldwide, including urgent care centers and online pharmacies. Montana facilities are also found in Missoula, Butte, Great Falls and Bozeman.
The company researches, designs and manufactures their own equipment. Because of this vertical integration, the company can monitor their own quality control every step of the way, area Administrative Assistant Jason Goode said, including the purity of water used during dialysis.
The Polson facility takes domestic city water and runs it through a comprehensive system of at least eight filters to draw out impurities such as debris, chlorine and bacteria. The process includes reverse osmosis and an end toxin filter that traps unwanted particles as small as the size of a single cell.
“We provide the best state-of-the-art equipment possible, which is safer and better for the patient,” Chiastra said.
The clinic is located at 305 Ridgewater Drive. For more information, call 1-800-881-5101 or the Missoula clinic at 406-549-2980.
