BUTTE — Dialysis is critical, life-saving care, but partner that with a medical emergency, and patients in Butte used to have to travel to receive care. Now that’s not the case.
"I was on dialysis for almost three years, and I was able to get a transplant thanks to my generous brother," says Desiree Phillips.
As an organ recipient and the manager of the Intensive Care Unit at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital, Phillips has been on both sides of dialysis treatment. She and a team of nurses recently received training in Utah to provide this service to hospital patients here in Butte.
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"It’s been really rewarding to see the other side of dialysis and bringing my team on to learn this same skill and provide this care to our patients in the community," says Phillips.
For patients who are in kidney failure, dialysis is a life-saving measure. Kidney failure occurs when the organ can no longer properly discard waste products from the body. Dialysis does the job of the kidney for the patient. Butte hospital patients recently had to travel for this kind of health care, but for two weeks now, the hospital has been providing this treatment.
"If they have like pneumonia or, you know, they need a small procedure, normally if they need their dialysis during their hospital stay, they would transfer to another hospital, and now they are able to stay close to home," says Phillips.
According to Intermountain Health St. James Hospital President Karen Costello, inpatient dialysis treatment is not something that rural hospitals usually provide.
"It’s just a service that not a lot of rural communities provide, so we thought it was important that we bring this service here to take care of our patients as best as we can," says Costello.
Phillips is now a year out from her transplant, and she says she’s feeling great. She also says her story, coupled with the knowledge of providing dialysis care, helps her connect with patients.
"It’s been super rewarding, I would definitely have to say. Just connecting with the patients and telling them my story, I feel like, makes them feel a little bit more at ease in the knowledge that I have with dialysis."
