How dialysis patients manage in a blizzard
For patients who need life-sustaining treatment such as dialysis, the snow storm threatens to get between them and their care.
The Baltimore health department was fine-tuning emergency plans Friday to shuttle dialysis patients between their homes and treatment centers over the weekend. The department covers transportation for patients on medical assistance, as required by federal law. The safety-net program also offers transportation to patients who need chemotherapy and radiation. But among the most challenging logistically for the department are those patients who need three-times-a-week dialysis, said Pamela Somers, program director of field health services for the health department.
The program ferries 446 dialysis patients to and from their treatments, some of whom have a strict Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule to adhere to. The threat of a blizzard means trying to reschedule some patients, a challenge in itself, while arranging a fleet of vans to go out on snow-covered roads to transport patients who cannot change their schedule.
“It’s also a huge challenge for patients, said Somers. “For folks whose times are being shifted, they need to change their diet a bit and watch their fluids,” she said. “There are medications that we can give them to have them hold out an extra day.”
Somers' team has been working on contingency plans since Tuesday.
“This is not something you do at 5 p.m. when the snow is starting,” she said. “This is something you that you have to plan for several days, and that the patients themselves need to think about.”
For her staff, the storm will mean working extra hours Saturday and Sunday, when they plan to transport about five dozen patients.
Meanwhile, Somers will be carefully monitoring the safety of van drivers. During December’s record-setting blizzard, several drivers got into accidents skidding down slick roads, although there were no serious injuries, Somers said.
“I don’t think enough of us gave enough weight to how bad conditions deteriorated throughout the day,” she said. “This time, we’re ready.”
