Northwest Kidney Centers open new clinic in Renton

Northwest Kidney Centers has opened its new Renton clinic that will give dialysis treatments and train people to do it themselves. The 21,000-square-foot dialysis center is at 602 Oakesdale Ave. S.W. in Renton’s Oakesdale Center business park.

November 17, 2011 1:39 pm
After a slow progression of kidney disease
After a slow progression of kidney disease

Northwest Kidney Centers has opened its new Renton clinic that will give dialysis treatments and train people to do it themselves.

The 21,000-square-foot dialysis center is at 602 Oakesdale Ave. S.W. in Renton’s Oakesdale Center business park.

The $4 million center is licensed to serve up to 168 patients, but large enough to serve up to 246 in the future. A generator on site will provide continuous power so that life-saving dialysis can continue even if regular power is out.

The center employs 34 people.

Staff and patients moved to the new center from Northwest Kidney Centers’ former dialysis clinic at 4242 East Valley Road., just below Valley Medical Center, which was purchased in 1986. The organization now will use that smaller building, renamed Mount Rainier Pavilion, as the dispatching hub for dialysis nurses who give treatments in local hospitals.

Without working kidneys, a person can stay alive only with regular dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Patients in a dialysis center typically receive a four-hour treatment three times a week to replace the function of their kidneys.

The leading causes of kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. Certain ethnic groups are at higher risk, especially African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Also at risk are people with a family history of chronic kidney disease, and those who are obese or older than 60. People with a risk factor should see their doctor and get tested. A blood pressure check, urine test and blood test will indicate how well the kidneys are working.

The nonprofit Northwest Kidney Centers provides the majority of dialysis care in King and Clallam counties, educates the public about kidney health, and collaborates with UW Medicine in the Kidney Research Institute. Northwest Kidney Centers’ staff of 550 delivers more than 225,000 treatments per year in 14 dialysis centers and 11 hospitals.

It also maintains one of the country’s largest training and support programs for people who give themselves dialysis at home – a form of treatment that often helps people feel better and more independent, according to the company.

In 2012, Northwest Kidney Centers will celebrate 50 years since its founding as the first out-of-hospital dialysis organization in the world. For more information, see www.nwkidney.org.