Nov. 13, 2007

CONTACT:
Communications Department
(320) 251-2700, ext. 74980

Dialysis services expand, get new name

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – CentraCare’s dialysis services are growing and changing to meet the region’s needs. Outpatient units in Cambridge and Litchfield will be opening soon, bringing the total number of outpatient units to nine. The Monticello unit will move to the new Big Lake Clinic, which is set to open in December.

The CentraCare executive team earlier this month approved a new name for CentraCare Dialysis. “CentraCare Kidney Program” better reflects the array of services, which include anemia management, bone disease management, and transplant work-up and follow-up. Nephrologists treat the full range of kidney disorders. The outpatient dialysis program has a broad reach, with a total of 43,000 treatments provided across seven communities during the fiscal year that ended June 30. In addition to outpatient kidney dialysis, the program also provides continuous renal replacement therapy for acutely ill inpatients; therapeutic plasma exchange for patients with neurological problems; aquapheresis to remove excess fluids from congestive heart failure patients; and home hemodialysis and home peritoneal dialysis for patients with end-stage renal failure.

Tom Leither, M.D., is the program’s senior nephrologist and program medical director. He and department director Cathy Sindelir have been with the program since its inception in 1987.

# # #