A renal dialysis unit could be in operation at the Slave Lake health complex early next year after Capital Health announced last week that it’s ready to expand its Northern Alberta Renal Program (NARP) by one satellite – this time attached to the Slave Lake facility.
Funding for the $750,000 building will come from Alberta Infrastructure.
The release says that the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch has contributed fund to purchase the dialysis machines. And Capital Health and Aspen Regional Health will manage all other costs associated with the new unit, says the release from Capital Health.
The move means that patients from the Slave Lake area who are currently traveling to Peace River, Grande Prairie, Westlock or Edmonton for their dialysis treatments will soon be able to have those treatments right at home.
Capital Health director of media relations Wes Bellmore says the Authority expects to break ground any day on the new addition to the Slave Lake health complex, adding that most such facilities are ready for occupancy within six months. He says officials will get the staffing in place as the new satellite takes shape and expects the unit will be ready to accept patients soon after the building is complete.
He says Capital Health and Aspen Health Authority will work together to pay for the physician and nurses it’ll take to staff the unit.
“My understanding is that a Capital Health employee (physician) works at the unit and between Aspen and Capital they supply the funding,” for staff, he told The Leader last week. And where ever possible, the authorities try to hire and train local nurses to staff the renal dialysis unit.
That’s great news says a woman who takes a turn shuttling her mother to Westlock for the thrice-weekly five-hour treatments. But she questions why construction will take so long.
“Our dream is finally coming true; but I just hope it’s not too late,” said Elizabeth Gladue last week, adding that the travel is very tiring for her 72-year-old matriarch. “How is that they can build a new Extra Foods addition in just three months, but it’s going to take them five months to build an addition at the health complex?” Especially at a time when several beds at the complex are closed for the summer, she added.
She estimated that there are at least nine people from the Slave Lake area, two from Wabasca, Driftpile and High Prairie who will benefit from the new satellite. Some of those, Gladue added, are already living in Edmonton to accommodate their dialysis needs.
Staffing should not be a problem, she added, “because we graduate enough LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurses) from the College every year to fill that need and I know of some who’d gladly take the training” necessary to fill the dialysis patients’ needs.
“One of the major benefits of having a network of satellite dialysis units is that people in rural areas have a much easier time managing their chronic condition,” says Dr. Kailash Jindal of Capital Health project team. “And it is widely recognized that when a chronic disease like kidney failure is carefully monitored and treated, the health outcomes are significantly better.”
NARP treats individuals with acute and chronic renal failure throughout central and northern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Northwest Territories.
There are currently 14 satellite dialysis units in northern Alberta, and NARP treats more than 850 patients.

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