Northwest Kidney Centers
Encyclopedia
Hemodialysis
In medicine, hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. Hemodialysis is one of three renal replacement therapies .Hemodialysis can be an outpatient or inpatient therapy...
treatment center. The model of providing hemodialysis outside of a hospital setting has spread throughout the world. On December 31, 2007, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, over 368,000 people receive hemodialysis
Hemodialysis
In medicine, hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. Hemodialysis is one of three renal replacement therapies .Hemodialysis can be an outpatient or inpatient therapy...
through over 5,300 outpatient dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
facilities.
Mission statement
The Northwest Kidney Centers (NKC) is a not-for-profit community based organization whose mission is: "to promote the optimal health, quality of life and independence of people with kidney disease, through patient care, education, and research." NKC partners with the Northwest Kidney Centers Foundation (formerly known as Northwest Kidney Foundation) to raise support to advance this mission.Early years
In 1960 chronic kidney disease was a fatal disease. Dr. Belding H. ScribnerBelding H. Scribner
Belding Hibbard Scribner was a U.S. physician and a pioneer in kidney dialysis.-Biography:Scribner received his medical degree from Stanford University in 1945. After completing his postgraduate studies at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at...
of the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
developed the Scribner shunt, a blood access device which made long-term maintenance hemodialysis
Hemodialysis
In medicine, hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. Hemodialysis is one of three renal replacement therapies .Hemodialysis can be an outpatient or inpatient therapy...
(treatment for stage 5 chronic kidney disease) possible for the first time. Dr. Scribner turned to the King County, Washington
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
Medical Society President James W. Haviland
James W. Haviland
James W. Haviland, MD was an American doctor and specialist in Internal Medicine co-founder of the University of Washington School of Medicine and co-founder of the Northwest Kidney Centers....
for sponsorship of a community supported outpatient dialysis center. Dr. Haviland marshaled community support, drawing on his association with the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, and according to colleagues his "clinical sense, wisdom, political acumen and knowledge" of the Seattle community to ensure that the new center operated on a not-for-profit basis.
The organization was launched in 1962 and was initially called the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center, until the reach of their services lead them to change their name to the Northwest Kidney Centers in 1970. In 1964 Time magazine reported that to treat eleven patients, the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center had a staff of two full time physicians and one halftime physician, plus five nurses and five technicians. During these early years of hemodialysis
Hemodialysis
In medicine, hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. Hemodialysis is one of three renal replacement therapies .Hemodialysis can be an outpatient or inpatient therapy...
, funding was extremely limited, which limited the access to treatment. Rigid patient selection was needed for the few available dialysis machines. A committee of physicians screened potential patients first by strict medical criteria. Patients who passed the initial medical screening were then further reviewed by an anonymous lay committee which decided who would get treatment.
In 1962 Life magazine published an article on the Seattle hemodialysis screening committee which Life magazine dubbed the "Life or Death Committee". The need to ration the life saving treatment led to the development of biomedical ethics. In 1964, Dr. Belding H. Scribner
Belding H. Scribner
Belding Hibbard Scribner was a U.S. physician and a pioneer in kidney dialysis.-Biography:Scribner received his medical degree from Stanford University in 1945. After completing his postgraduate studies at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at...
's presidential address to the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs discussed the problems of patient selection, termination of treatment, patient suicide, death with dignity, and selection for transplantation. In 1964 the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center under the guidance of Dr. Joseph W. Eschbach
Joseph W. Eschbach
Joseph Wetherill Eschbach was an American doctor and kidney specialist whose twenty years of research starting in the 1960’s led to an improvement in the treatment of anemia....
launched one of the world's first Home hemodialysis
Home hemodialysis
Home hemodialysis , is the provision of hemodialysis in the home of people with stage 5 chronic kidney disease. In the US home hemodialysis was the most common method of renal replacement therapy in the early 1970s before the introduction of the Federal ESRD program under Medicare...
programs.
In 1972 the US Congress passed legislation authorizing the end-stage renal disease
End Stage Renal Disease (US Federal Program)
In 1972 the US Congress passed legislation authorizing the End Stage Renal Disease program under Medicare. Section 299I of Public Law 92-603, passed by Congress on October 30, 1972, extended Medicare coverage to Americans if they had stage five chronic kidney disease and were otherwise qualified...
(ESRD) program of Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
. Section 299I of Public Law 92-603, on October 30, 1972, extended Medicare coverage to over 90 percent of Americans if they had permanent kidney failure and required dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
or kidney transplantation
Kidney transplantation
Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the donor organ...
to live. This funding led to the wider availability of dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
nationally and spurred the growth of NKC.
Today
In 2009 NKC operates with a staff of 525 providing over 200,000 outpatient and home dialysis treatments a year through fourteen centers and inpatient dialysis in regional hospitals.Locations
NKC's largest facility, the Seattle Kidney Center on First Hill, Seattle, Washington
First Hill, Seattle, Washington
First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, named for the hill on which it is located. The hill, in turn, is so named for being the first hill one encounters traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington....
offers outpatient dialysis, Home Hemodialysis
Home hemodialysis
Home hemodialysis , is the provision of hemodialysis in the home of people with stage 5 chronic kidney disease. In the US home hemodialysis was the most common method of renal replacement therapy in the early 1970s before the introduction of the Federal ESRD program under Medicare...
, Peritoneal dialysis
Peritoneal dialysis
Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment for patients with severe chronic kidney disease. The process uses the patient's peritoneum in the abdomen as a membrane across which fluids and dissolved substances are exchanged from the blood...
and a renal pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
. Also on First Hill is the Elliott Bay Kidney Center and the Broadway Kidney Center. Administrative services are located at the Blagg Pavilion in Lake Forest Park, Washington
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Lake Forest Park is a city in King County, Washington, United States, just north of Seattle. A bedroom community by design, most of the city consists of single-family housing on medium to large-sized lots, with an emphasis on retaining the natural features of the landscape...
adjacent to the Lake City Kidney Center.
The other community dialysis centers are the Lake Washington Kidney Center in Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
; the Scribner Kidney Center in Northgate, Seattle, Washington
Northgate, Seattle, Washington
Northgate is an informal district of neighborhoods in north urban Seattle, Washington, named for and surrounding Northgate Mall, the first covered mall in the United States....
; the Mount Rainier Kidney Center in Renton, Washington
Renton, Washington
Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...
; the Seatac Kidney Center in Seatac, Washington
SeaTac, Washington
SeaTac is an American city in southern King County, Washington, and an outlying suburb of Seattle, Washington. Incorporated in February 1990, the City of SeaTac is ten square miles in area and has a population of 26,909 according to the 2010 census...
; the Auburn Kidney Center in Auburn, Washington
Auburn, Washington
-Parks:Auburn has an extensive system of parks, open space and urban trails comprising 29 developed parks, 5 undeveloped sites under planning, 2 skate parks, 2 water roatary parks, and over of trails , and almost of open space for passive and active recreation.-Environmental Park:The Auburn...
; the West Seattle Kidney Center in West Seattle; the Port Angeles Kidney Center in Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
; the Totem Lake Kidney Center in Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
; Kent Kidney Center Kent, Washington
Kent, Washington
Kent is a city located in King County, Washington, United States, and is the third largest city in King County and the sixth largest in the state. An outlying suburb of Seattle, Kent is also the corporate home for companies such as REI and Oberto Sausage...
; and the Snoqualmie Ridge Kidney Center in Snoqualmie, Washington
Snoqualmie, Washington
Snoqualmie is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington. The city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was of 10,670 at the 2010 census...
.