Story Posted: 2023-08-09
Hospital Highlights: Kidney Health and Provincial Transplant Services and Primary Health and Chronic Disease Management
From the St. Paul’s Hospital & SPH Foundation 2022-23 Annual Review.
Kidney Health and Provincial Transplant Services
Kidney Health Programs at St. Paul’s Hospital serve the residents of Saskatoon and also of Central and Northern Saskatchewan. Care and support are provided at our Hospital and within communities across the province. St. Paul’s Kidney Health Programs, Chronic Kidney Disease Clinics and the Community Outreach Programs advance early identification of kidney disease. This year, we were pleased to support the opening of a new Hemodialysis Unit in Meadow Lake, slated to open in early 2023.
We are mindful that many of those we serve belong to marginalized groups, and we recognize how this has led to unmet needs in the area of Kidney Health. To bridge these gaps, our intention is to provide a voice to these patients and to focus on providing compassionate and accessible care that puts patients and families first.
Kidney disease affects all aspects of a patient’s health: physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. For this reason, our Hospital’s Healing Arts team is invaluable to our kidney health patients, as is our collaborative work with our Hospital’s other leadership areas. The SPH Hemodialysis Unit and the Cameco Community Renal Health Centre across the street from the Hospital provide life-sustaining therapy to as many as 284 people each week. These individuals and their families come to Saskatoon three times every week, from as far away as Ile-a-la-Crosse. SPH’s Peritoneal Dialysis and Home Hemodialysis programs currently support 117 individuals in performing dialysis in their homes, allowing them to remain in their home communities, continue to work, and to play an important role in managing their own health. We also support 18 home hemodialysis patients and 731 patients through our Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic.
Primary Health and Chronic Disease Management
Primary Health and Chronic Disease Management provides education and support to those living with chronic disease. The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Program ensures appropriate support, referrals, and the best care possible to improve clients’ understanding of their illness, reducing the need for visits to the hospital and improving their overall quality of life. Our staff also participates in research, engages in collaborative work and attends Saskatchewan Health Authority’s Cultural Conversation events to enhance our collective understanding and individual responsibility to Truth & Reconciliation.
The LiveWell Diabetes Program provides Kidney Health and Provincial Transplant Services support to children, adults and families with pre-diabetes, type 1 and 2 diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy. Programs and services include individual consultations, group education and exercise, and clinics. The Pediatric Diabetes Team, Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinic, Adult Diabetes Program, and Multidisciplinary Diabetes General Adult Clinics each aim to provide proactive and patient-centered care to community members living with diabetes, and to offer services through a variety of modalities. LiveWell Nutrition programs and services are also offered to all adults for prevention and management of chronic disease, and include individual nutrition counselling and group education classes.