Dialysis center going up

[blackcrowheart]

Dialysis center going up
Construction on 24-bed facility to begin in '07

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

www.gallupindependent.com/2006/dec/122206jt_dialysiscenter.html
<http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/dec/122206jt_dialysiscenter.html>

Pueblo of Acoma Gov. Jason Johnson signs an agreement with Dialysis
Clinic Inc. to construct a 24-chair dialysis facility to replace the
existing six-chair operation next to the Acoma-Cononcito-Laguna Hospital
in Acomita. Construction on the 8,000 square foot building is scheduled
for early 2007 at an extimated cost of $1.6 million. [Courtesy Photo]
PUEBLO OF ACOMA � Gov. Jason Johnson, Pueblo of Acoma, signed a
lease agreement Thursday afternoon with Dialysis Clinic Inc., to build a
much needed 24-bed dialysis center at the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Indian
Hospital on the pueblo.

The center will offer dialysis to American Indians who suffer from
kidney disease caused by diabetes, which is plaguing Native Americans as
well as other races.

Johnson spoke of the need for the dialysis for Native Americans, not
just Acomas, which has been in the planning stages for the past eight
years, said Phil Robertson, spokesman for Acoma Business Enterprises,
the business arm of the pueblo's tribal government

The building will be 8,000 square feet and construction starts
immediately. It will cost $1.6 million and be completed by early in
2007, Robertson said.

DCI will construct the building on land owned by the tribe, making the
agreement a "land agreement," he said.

Currently the patient load is overwhelming for the dialysis clinic's six
beds, often turning patients away forcing them to drive to the dialysis
clinic in Grants or in Albuquerque.

Once the new clinic is built, it should handle the current and future
additional dialysis patient load for years.

Additional jobs will be created as well, Robertson, said.

There will not only be the nurses who are needed, but doctors,
housekeeping, the people who are at the front desk and so on, he said.

As early as 1997, the Acoma Tribal Council determined there was a need
for a dialysis clinic expended facility, according to information
provided by Robertson.

Diabetes is a chronic disease which affectrs not only the young but
older individuals. It has two types: Type I, or juvenile diabetes; and
Type II, diabetes mellitus, which is acquired as an adult.

Diabetes is a disease which affects the blood glucose in the body. The
pancrease does not manufacture enough insulin to effectively use the
glucose in the body resulting in higher blood sugar levels which lead to
blindness, heart problems, loss of circulation in legs often resulting
in amputation and kidney disease, requiring dialysis.

Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States,
according to the Centers for Disease Control. The disease grows at a
rate of about 10 percent of the population per year.

The six bed unit currently operating at ACL Hospital has a waiting list
of 30 patients.

DCI operates more than 200 dialysis units nationwide, including eight in
New Mexico.