Halton Healthcare Services recently celebrated the opening of new clinical space at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. The Progressive Renal Insufficiency (PRI) Clinic and the Early Renal Insufficiency (ERI) Clinic, both outpatient clinics, now have a new home.

The Clinics provide education and support to approximately 180 individuals who have lost a portion of their renal function. "We take a multi-disciplinary approach. Our team includes a dietician, a social worker, a pharmacist, a nurse, a clerk and two nephrologists and they all have a very important role in educating our patients, " says Lee Johnson, Patient Care Manager, Dialysis at OTMH. "We teach them about diet, medications and lifestyle."

The clinics' goal is to delay the initiation of dialysis. "We have followed some patients for up to four years," says Lee. "Sometimes we are even able to reverse the renal failure." Both clinics have operated from several temporary locations within the hospital. The new area is brightly lit and contains offices for the clinics' staff, a conference room and a large waiting room.

"This is by far the nicest space we've ever had," says Lee. "It allows us to accommodate the needs of our patients and takes our future needs and growth into consideration."

The renovation is part of Phase II of the dialysis expansion at OTMH which also includes the addition of a second Dialysis Unit. Currently, the unit is running at 18 stations and when the second unit opens there will be a total of 24 stations plus two isolation stations.

The expansion of the program will reduce travel for the residents of Halton and will increase the capacity of full-care, in-centre hemodialysis in the Region. This will accommodate both the rapid population growth of the region and the 15 per cent projected growth rate of End Stage Renal Failure.