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State Approves Transylvania Dialysis Facility
BREVARD, N.C., June 27, 2008—Nearly 30 Transylvania County residents will soon no longer have to travel as much as nine hours per week to receive lifesaving kidney treatment.
The N.C. Division of Health Services Regulation this week approved a certificate of need for the construction of a stage-four dialysis facility on the campus of Transylvania Community Hospital in Brevard.
The Brevard Dialysis Center will have eight stations with a capacity to treat 32 patients. The facility will be operated by DaVita Inc., a national provider of dialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease. The facility will be located in a new 5,200 square-foot medical building that will be built by Transylvania Community Hospital. The $1 million facility is projected to open July 1, 2009. Transylvania Community Hospital will own the building and lease the space for the dialysis operation to DaVita.
“This is a great victory for our community,” said Bob Bednarek, president and CEO of Transylvania Community Hospital. “We have worked tirelessly for several years to get state approval for this facility. Now we can better serve the needs of kidney patients in Transylvania County.”
The state initially rejected a certification of need request for the Transylvania facility based on the number of kidney patients in the county requiring treatment. However, state regulators reversed their decision after a formal petition was filed by the Transylvania Department of Public Health with support from the hospital, the Transylvania Board of Commissioners and the Land of Waterfalls Partnership for Health.
North Carolina is one of a handful of states that require approval—by a certificate of need—from state regulators before the construction of major medical treatment facilities including hospital expansions.
Residents who are dialysis patients will greatly benefit from this service being closer to their homes, according to Steve Smith, director of the Transylvania Department of Public Health. “This is a story about easing human suffering,” Smith said. “The patients who endure dialysis are already fragile and fatigued. Compound that with a long trip through the mountains three times a week. We have families who have had to relocate to other communities to be closer to a treatment facility. And we have families being separated because nursing homes in our county cannot accept dialysis patients because of the difficulty of transporting them for treatment to other counties.”
Currently, about 26 kidney patients living in Transylvania County must travel to Hendersonville or beyond to receive dialysis treatments three times per week, Smith said. Many of these patients depend on the Transylvania County Transportation Agency to transport them to and from their dialysis treatments. One patient who lives in the Balsam Grove community travels more than 65 miles—an hour and 47-minute trip—each way, three times a week. The average travel time for all Transylvania County dialysis patients is more than 50 minutes each way.
“Thankfully the state has upheld our petition for the benefit of the people of Transylvania County,” Smith said.
About Transylvania Community Hospital
Celebrating its 75th year, Transylvania Community Hospital is a nationally ranked 5-Star Hospital and a leading provider of quality healthcare services in Transylvania and surrounding counties. Based in Brevard, N.C., it is a not-for-profit community hospital founded in 1933 and is the largest employer in Transylvania County.