U.S. Renal Care has opened a kidney dialysis clinic at Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo.
“This is as big as our Honolulu clinic,” said Pliny Arenas, U.S. Renal Care’s vice president of operations for the Pacific. “We have the capability of taking 32 patients per shift and we can run three shifts per day and six days a week.
“This is historic for the company and historic for the Big Island, because they had only one provider. So now patients have another option, and we’re complementing existing services here.”
The other dialysis clinic in Hilo operating independent of a hospital is Liberty Dialysis, at the corner of Kinoole and West Lanikaula streets.
U.S. Renal Care said the company spent $10 million renovating the space in the mall. According to the company, one in seven people in Hawaii suffers from chronic kidney disease, 30% higher than the national average. There are about 6,000 dialysis patients statewide, with that figure growing about 5% yearly.
“Without our services, you wouldn’t have enough chairs to serve the population,” said Arenas, who said East Hawaii currently has about 400 dialysis patients, but he expects that number to grow “probably close to 750.”
“You have Kona patients, as well, and all of their clinics are full. So they have to drive to Hilo. We’re filling the need,” he said.
Arenas, who started as a dialysis nurse, said there are 11 employees, nurses and technicians at the facility, and the company is looking to hire more. U.S. Renal has 430 employees at its 16 Hawaii clinics, and another clinic is under construction in Kona.
Dialysis patients often require treatments three days a week for three to five hours at a time. The new clinic provides service from 4:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The treatment room is well-lit and spotless, with 32 state-of-the-art dialysis stations where patients can relax in comfortable-looking, heated recliner chairs and enjoy free Wi-Fi and cable TV.
While the grand opening of the facility was celebrated on Thursday with a Hawaiian blessing, ceremonial maile lei untying and entertainment including hula, Brother Noland and the Keawe Trio, the clinic has provided services to patients for several months.
Dialysis patient Shelsa Bush called the clinic “an amazing place.”
“I think it’s beautiful,” Bush said. “It’s very welcoming and it makes you feel safe.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been very family oriented. The staff, from the nurses to the technicians, even the patients, we get along like a family.”
Fellow dialysis patient Ron Ka-ipo said he’s received treatment at clinics at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu and a clinic in Mililani, Oahu, “and this is much larger than both of those places.”
“But what impresses me is the compassion of the nurses and the techs. They have the real aloha spirit,” said Ka-ipo. “They go that extra mile. They’ll walk us out to the car to make sure we don’t trip going to the car. And they’re not just sympathetic, they care. You can hear it in their voices and see it in their body language.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
