PARIS, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — March is National Kidney Month, a time where communities bring awareness to the issue of kidney disease.
At Horizon Health, residents are getting the help they need at their dialysis center.
Amanada Bauer, Manager at Horizon Health Dialysis Center, said the center does blood work for patients whose kidneys no longer meet their body’s needs.
“Dialysis provides filtering for the blood with end-stage renal disease”, Bauer said. “There are multiple stages of kidney disease, and this is the end stage, whenever they are on dialysis, they go through renal replacement therapy.”
Patients with kidney disease must attend the center continuously to stay healthy.
“We will do dialysis, hemodialysis, on outpatients three days a week”, Bauer said. “Times range anywhere from three to four hours, three days a week.”
Registered Dietician for Horizon Health, Brianne Turner, said the first stages of kidney disease are often silent, with no symptoms. At that time, diet becomes extremely important.
“We pay attention to sodium, fluid, phosphorus, potassium, and protein”, Turner said. “Especially when your kidneys are not working properly and filtering toxins out, it leads to a buildup of those chemicals in your body, so your body is not able to process them and get rid of them. Limiting them in your diet is really important.”
Bauer said, like most diseases, constant monitoring and early treatment are the best way to prevent health issues.
“Awareness to follow up with a PCP, follow up with your nephrologist, keep appointments, do testing”, Bauer said. “It is really about managing risk factors and prevention of progression of the disease.”
Dialysis Specialists at Horizon Health said most people are unaware that they have chronic kidney disease until their health is affected.
