NEW BRUNSWICK — To bring awareness to renal disease and transplant surgery, the five units of the Dialysis Clinic Inc. (DCI) celebrated their 40th anniversary onMay 22 at the Douglass Campus Center, New Brunswick.
The five units, located at CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, at the Madison Care Center, Matawan, in Monroe Township, in North Brunswick and at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, are banded together as Garden State Partners in Service, under medical directors Toros Kapoian and Andrew Covit.
Each unit provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for almost 400 patients. There were 2,880 patients waiting for a kidney transplant in New Jersey as of May 13, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
“Our motto is, ‘We are a service organization. The care of the patient is our reason for existence,’ ” said Lisa Bross Gajary, a DCI area education coordinator based in North Brunswick.
“Celebrating Community Celebrations,” the anniversary event, catered to more than 150 attendees.
Information was provided on visiting nurse services, health insurance, equipment, wound care, home therapy and extended care facilities.
Surgeons David Laskow and Steven Curtis shared their knowledge of transplant operations; Roxanne Black, who was diagnosed with lupus 22 years ago at age 15, told of her transplant and the founding of the Friends’Health Connection.
Anna O’Connor sang, comedian and transplant patient Andrea Dubose performed, and post-transplant patient David Rush rapped, while a magician did tricks and children played games.
“I think [those in attendance] learned a lot. They could find organizations that could help them with a particular need,” Gajary said. “By providing this [event], they may see something and say, ‘I was wondering about that’or ‘that’s something I could use.’”
Florence Boscarino, 82, has been on dialysis for 11 years, the first two of which were done at home overnight. Diagnosed with polycystic kidneys, she said that it’s too late to consider surgery, but said she generally feels fine.
She credits the North Brunswick unit with her health and wellness.
“The staff is great. The nurses are great. I really can’t complain,” she said.
As soon as she saw the flier for the anniversary celebration, she wanted to attend, but waited until the morning of to make sure she felt well enough to go.
“It’s great. It’s good to see everybody,” the East Brunswick resident said.
“Everybody looks so different because I’m used to seeing them in their scrubs. Half of them, I don’t recognize,” she laughed.
Among about 20 vendors providing information was the Tobacco Dependence Program at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. Lisa Underwood had a diagram showing that because tobacco smoke chemicals leave the body through the urine, hence the kidneys, cancer is a possibility from smoking or chewing tobacco.
“You put your body or life on the course to cancer when you start smoking,” the outreach coordinator said.
Underwood said that quitting tobacco use is difficult because it’s an addiction, but that each patient is given his or her specific treatment at the center. Since 2000, more than 5,000 patients have been treated, she said.
“We want people to know we’re here and we can help them quit,” she said.
For more information, visit www.tobaccoprogram.org or call 732-235-8222.
Another organization represented was The Transplant Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, now handling heart, kidney, and kidney/pancreas transplants. Clinics for pretransplant evaluations and post-transplant follow-ups run simultaneously.
Allison McCabe said there are about 600 patients on the transplant waiting list at RWJUH, but noted that those with renal disease should realize they do not need to be on dialysis in order to get on a waiting list — they may refer themselves.
Transplants help improve quality of life, increase life span, lift dietary restrictions and make more time available to do things other than dialysis, according to information from the center.
The center also helps patients deal with financial issues, support, nutrition counseling, medication management, social-work assistance and weight-loss programs.
Also, McCabe said that people can sign up for living donations, meaning that they donate an organ while still alive. There is a new surge in paired-exchange donations, during which a prospective donor and recipient who may not be a match can technically switch donors who do match; this would occur, for example, if there is a blood-type discrepancy.
McCabe said two have been done already this year, with one more expected soon.
For more information about transplant services, call 732-253-3699. For more information about the dialysis clinic, visit www.DCIInc.org.