Lifesaving Treatment Center for Kidney Patients Opens

MURRAY – Starting this morning, people needing life-saving dialysis treatment in the Salt Lake Valley have a new state-of-the-art center to get their care.

Central Valley Dialysis, which has provided dialysis care for patients for many years, has changed their name to Intermountain Medical Center Dialysis Services, and has a new, comprehensive dialysis center on the Intermountain Medical Center campus at 74 West Vine Street in Murray that opens today.

The center treats nearly 150 dialysis patients a year and employs a staff of 25. It’s part of a comprehensive dialysis program that includes inpatient dialysis care at Intermountain Medical Center and several other area hospitals, as well as three additional outpatient clinics in downtown Salt Lake City, Tooele, and Richfield.

News media are invited to tour the new center between 9 and 11 am today.

Heidi Naylor, a patient suffering from polycystic kidney disease who’s been receiving dialysis for eight years, is thrilled to have a new center to receive her life-saving treatments.

“I’m excited because I know a lot of care has gone into it.  It’s exciting because it’s all state-of-the-art, and they’ve been working on it forever,” she says.

For Naylor and her family, dialysis is a life extender, and she has first-hand experience with losing a loved one when these treatments weren’t available.  In 1967, Her grandfather died at the age of 47 because he didn’t fit required criteria to receive treatments that would have kept him alive.

“To this day or if I have a bad day or a weary day, I am so grateful I have it.  If I didn’t have dialysis, I wouldn’t be able to be with my three kids or my husband.  My husband calls it the extender – it’s the life extender,” says Naylor.

The new location on the Intermountain Medical Center campus offers patients several benefits:

• More space. The clinic’s new facility means it can expand from 21 dialysis stations to 28 and also offers greater amenities and a more comfortable environment for dialysis patients.
• State-of-the-art technology. The new center offers new dialysis machines with automated systems that will make dialysis treatment more efficient and comfortable for patients.
• Proximity to the hospital. When patients need extra care during a dialysis treatment, the center is located adjacent to the medical center, so patients can be easily admitted to the hospital setting, if needed.
• Easy access.  The center is conveniently located on Intermountain Medical Center’s campus next to I-15 and State Street, and across the street from a major Trax and Frontrunner station.

“I’ve seen dialysis for 30 years, and this place just blows my mind: It’s awesome.  It’s hard to believe all of the enhancements they’ve made over the years,” says Naylor.

The center’s new number is 801-507-9000. It will be open six days a week.