No dialysis unit for Brooks after AHS pulls funding

By Medicine Hat News on November 30, 2018.

Jamie Rieger

After three years of fund-raising in Brooks and area for the purchase of a dialysis unit for the Brooks Health Centre, Alberta Health Services has withdrawn its promise to top up the funding.

The reason? Not enough people in the Brooks area need dialysis. When funding proposals began in 2014, 14 patients were regularly travelling from Brooks to other medical facilities to receive their dialysis. “There was demand for it when we started, but that demand is not there now and that demand could change again,” said Diane Declercq, chair of the Brooks and District Health Foundation.

In 2014, the health foundation and Southern Alberta Renal Program began discussing a proposed dialysis unit for Brooks, and AHS indicated if the local campaign raised $1.5 million, it would contribute the balance.

Fundraising began in 2015. In 2016, Alberta Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman released a statement that included $2.1 million being earmarked for the dialysis program.

A lot can change in a few short years.

The health foundation has raised approximately $1 million for the unit, but since the needs in the community have decreased, the provincial government has been silent about any commitment.

It was not until AHS was forced to make a determination about what its commitment would be that the health foundation learned funding was no longer on the table.

“There are not enough patients who would need the dialysis machine, so they (AHS) pulled their funding,” said Declercq, adding that a minimum of six patients requiring dialysis is required for the province to show any kind of support.

Declercq noted better technology is allowing some patients to be treated at home and understands the province’s position.

“It makes sense if the demand is not there. I see where they are coming from. Why invest more than $3 million into a dialysis unit if it’s not needed?” she said.

What she said she doesn’t understand however, is why the province sat silent as the community raised money specifically to be used for a dialysis unit if it had already decided that the Alberta government would not be contributing.

“The bottom line is there has been just over $1 million raised and earmarked for that dialysis unit and our position is that money will stay in the community, to help people with dialysis. We just don’t know what that will look like yet,” said Declercq. “We have made it clear that nothing going forward will be done without a memorandum of understanding.”

Currently, the Brooks and District Health Foundation is meeting with stakeholders and donors to find out how to best distribute the money that has been raised.

“We are looking and assessing what are the other greatest needs in the community. The money will be re-invested back into the community,” she said, adding that having not enough patients requiring a dialysis unit is not a bad thing.

“If the community doesn’t have that many people who need a dialysis machine, how is that a bad thing?” she said.

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