It’s been almost a year and a half since the new satellite hemodialysis unit at Centenary hospital began treating patients, and now it is expanding hemodialysis care in Scarborough.

The unit will now offer evening dialysis, increasing the access of care to support three patient shifts, 6 days a week.

The evening shift will operate from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m., adding to the already occurring morning and afternoon shifts supporting patient dialysis.

The unit will open in a three-phased approach over the next 8-12 weeks. Over the course of the three phases the unit will slowly open evening shifts. Phase one will add six evening dialysis stations, followed by nine stations in phase two and finally operating at full capacity of 12 stations, three months following opening.

“Expanding this service even further to offer evening dialysis is allowing us to continue to grow dialysis care within our community and provide for more patients,” Dr. Tam, Chief of Nephrology notes.

In its first year, the unit thrived in meeting its mission to increase access to care, serving 29 patients with end stage renal disease and providing over 4,400 hemodialysis treatments.

Not only has the hemodialysis unit grown to allow for greater access to care for patients, it has enabled future nephrology program integration initiatives and standardization across the General and Centenary sites, such as the introduction of interventional radiology procedures for dialysis related needs at the Centenary unit.