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Rice Kidney Dialysis Center

In 1966, Rice Memorial Hospital opened the Kidney Dialysis Center, one of the first chronic dialysis units in Minnesota. Today, we continue to be at the forefront of kidney care with 9 licensed machines. Our team of highly skilled experts in kidney disease give personalized care to patients from a 13 county area in south central Minnesota.

Options for Treatment

We know that with kidney disease you need to make changes in your life, but you don't need to give up control. We want you, with doctor's help, to make an informed and educated decision about your own care. The options for treatment include:

• Hemodialysis
  done at the Rice Hemodialysis Center, treatments usually take place three times a week

• Peritoneal Dialysis
  generally done daily at home either through continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis, which requires the use of a machine, or through continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, which is machine-free

• Kidney Transplantation
  kidney transplants can come either from living donors, who are usually family members of the patient, or from cadaver donor
  
  
• No Treatment
  because we feel a patient's quality of life is of the utmost importance, we also respect and support the decision to choose no treatment

It is important to remember that a treatment choice is not always final. And since discontinuing treatment is a very individual and difficult decision, we offer a program at Rice, designed to help you with this process. The Choice is Yours provides patients with the tools to think about the options they have and how to discuss these options with their families.

At Rice we also offer one-on-one counseling and information through our Pre-Dialysis Education Program. This is for any person who will need dialysis in the future, regardless of where treatment will be provided.

Additional Services

• team of staff to provide a continuum of care
  includes physicians, nurses, hemodialysis assistants, social workers, clinical pharmacists and dietitians
• surgical and radiological procedures are available to improve access viability
  we have an on-call Access Physician, credentialed for hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis
• a centralized nurse's station monitors hemodialysis treatments continuously
• our unit is open 7 days a week
  we are happy to accommodate all schedules including patients after work hours or school hours. We also facilitate hemodialysis patients who are vacationing, either visitors to this area, or our own patients traveling to other areas of the country
• a separate treatment area for Hepatitis B patients ensures that individual needs are met
• a social worker/patient consultation room is provided for comfort and confidentiality
  this consultation area allows you and your physician to meet privately on an ongoing basis to review your treatment and discuss modifications

For more information contact:

Bev Schafer, Kidney Dialysis Center Clinical Director
bsch@rice.willmar.mn.us
320.231.4218