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00:14 Give us somewhere to call home, says Martin Lawrence, spokesperson for the Kidney Care
00:19 Advocates Organization.
00:21 Despite repeated calls and promises from government over the past 15 years, the construction of
00:27 a proper dialysis facility is yet to come to fruition.
00:31 According to Lawrence, patients with kidney disease are left on the back burner in the
00:36 healthcare system, and it is time they are put on the front burner.
00:41 Kidney care is fundamentally almost holistic, right, because at the end of the day it impacts
00:48 most of our organs at the end of the day.
00:51 It's the waste bin for the body, and as I said, if that isn't taken care of, it will
01:01 impact the other organs as well.
01:03 We don't have, again, that comprehensive, all-inclusive sort of package, right, or facility
01:10 I should say, that provides and speaks for all of the various facets that impacts the
01:18 kidney itself.
01:19 She says there are a number of needs that need to be fulfilled when working with patients
01:24 who are on dialysis.
01:25 Proper nursing care, but primarily doctors, we need proper caregivers.
01:33 We also need vascular access to the patients as well.
01:39 We need a nephrologist, dieticians, dieticianess, and of course your social workers on board.
01:47 So you need, in addition to which, you need, you have the cardiologists as well.
01:52 So they all are integrally involved in this exercise.
01:59 The advocate says there are facilities across Trinidad and Tobago for kidney patients to
02:04 receive treatment, but one similar to a hospital, they will be in charge of getting a patient's
02:10 name on a waiting list, as well as finding possible donors to make the process as stress-free
02:17 as possible for the patient.
02:19 Of course you have a list of people who are out there that are put on this list, waiting
02:23 list, waiting for transplant.
02:25 And once you meet the criteria, right, that's fine.
02:28 I mean, you are able to get that over to you as quickly as possible and able to transplant.
02:37 Mr. Lawrence says treatment is very expensive and is usually three times per week.
02:43 He adds the government provides medical aid to assist those who cannot afford treatment
02:48 themselves.
02:49 It is very costly.
02:50 It is, I mean, in terms of the numbers now, I think it's anywhere within two to three
02:59 thousand.
03:00 It could run into four thousand dollars a session.
03:02 So if you do the maths, I mean, you're looking at four, four by three is twelve, and twelve
03:07 by, let's say, four months, you're looking at about fifty thousand dollars a month.
03:12 He further explains the importance of having a strong support system and reiterates that
03:17 the proposed facility can be seen as that support system for those who don't have any.
03:23 And that's one of the reasons why, again, we need something under one umbrella, because
03:27 one, a facility under one umbrella.
03:29 So I'm coming right back to that.
03:32 Because at the end of the day, you know, some people are able to have that kind of family
03:38 support and maybe even through their work environment, they have that support too as
03:44 well.
03:45 Some of us just unfortunately don't have that available to them.
03:49 So when you have that, that becomes an issue for some people.
03:53 So I'm saying the facility itself will provide for people like that too.
03:58 It will help support people like that.
04:01 Because at the end of the day, we all we all in this thing together.
04:04 However, the Kidney Care Advocates Organization urges the government to prioritize the construction
04:11 and operation of a full service dialysis center as soon as possible.
04:17 I am Charlotte Kistow with tonight's Health Watch.
04:20 (beeping)
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