Griffith’s new temporary renal unit is almost ready, and is set to open for service on Monday October 22.
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The Area News got a sneak peak into the new Mungarr Mgurang (Kidney Place) facility, set to improve the standard of care Griffith patients receive with a new model of care.
Murrumbidgee renal stream manager Kelly-Anne Marchioni explains the new facility, established in a demountable unit brought in from Tamworth, in the video below:
“This new unit is a new model of care, and is very Griffith-centric, tailored to Griffith needs,” Ms Marchioni said.
“They will know the patients, will work with them everyday, be involved from first diagnosis all the way through their journey.
“If they chose to go off dialysis, we actually don’t abandon them, we follow them through that as well to make sure they are maintaining and being looked after at home.”
The new unit includes three more chairs, training areas, two bathrooms and a storeroom to the service, set to make care ‘flow better’ for both patients and staff.
“And not only facilities, but there will be the addition of a service worker, and aboriginal liaison officer for two days, as well as a chronic kidney disease (CKD) nurse.
“We’ve been using Wagga Wagga for a long period of time,” Ms Marchioni said.
“Wagga staff have so many patients now, with over 40 patients internally with about 100 CKD patients - so they are overwhelmed with capacity and haven't got the ability to come out and do as much as we need them to here.”
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As for Griffith, patients age range is from 17 to 91, with 30 per cent Indigenous rate, with people from the Islands, Italian background, people with mental health issues - we have a huge socio-economical group of people that we have to accommodate.
“So having that social worker as well as a dietitian here on the ground is going to make a huge difference.”
Training patients for home care will now also be provided from Griffith, saving patients trips to Wagga.
“We had a patient with special needs who actually had to go to Sydney for their home training, but this is going to bring our people back home.”
MLHD acting director of operations Fiona Renshaw encouraged the community to come and take ‘special preview’ tour of the renal unit on Friday October 19, with hourly tours starting at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
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