Dialysis site in Medina reopens after renovations
Photos by Tom Rivers: Sherri Parker of Akron sits at a dialysis station on Wednesday in Medina. Lake Plains Dialysis reopened on Monday at 11020 W. Center Street after 8 months of renovations.
MEDINA – Sherri Parker of Akron is thankful the Lake Plains Dialysis site in Medina reopened this week after eight months of renovations.
Parker has been on dialysis for eight years. The Medina location at 11020 W. Center St. has been close by for her. When it closed for repairs, shifting most patients to a site in Batavia, it meant a much earlier start in the day and a longer commute for Parker and other patients.
Monday the site in Medina, which opened about 20 years ago, was back in business. Parker was there just before 6 in the morning.
“I love it,” Parker said. “It’s nicer and much warmer.”
The dialysis site was closed in April after water damage to the building. The nine dialysis stations were relocated to Lake Plains’ other site in Batavia at 587 East Main St. (Orleans Community Health provides the service for about 100 people at the two locations.)
The Medina site will be adding another station in early 2017. That will allow Lake Plains to serve four more patients who need dialysis. Medina currently has 37 patients and there is a waiting list for 30 patients at the two sites, said Laurie Joslyn, manager of Lake Plains Dialysis.
Laurie Joslyn is manager of the Lake Plains Dialysis Centers in Medina and Batavia. Both sites will be able to add patients in early 2017 after a grant paid for one more station in Medina and two in Batavia.
A Rural Access Grant is allowing Lake Plains to add another station in Medina and two in Batavia.
When Medina was closed for eight months, Joslyn said 35 of the 37 patients took dialysis in Batavia while two others found other dialysis sites.
Parker and other Medina patients are thankful the site reopened in medina.
“This is a convenience for me,” Parker said on Wednesday, nearing the end of a four-hour dialysis session.
Parker and other patients receive dialysis three times a week. In Medina, there are two shifts while Batavia provides the service at three different times for people with failing kidneys.
With dialysis, blood is pumped through machines that remove extra water, wastes and chemicals from the blood stream.
Medina has a team of certified technicians, registered nurses and LPNs working with patients. There is also a social worker and dietician on staff to help patients.
Parker said she prefers the Medina site, which is less hectic than many other dialysis centers that typically have 20 to 30 stations.
“It’s quieter here with less interruptions,” she said.
The Medina site was once a roller-skating rink and then a manufacturing site. With the recent renovations the site has new flooring (a non-skid laminate replaced carpet), new drywall and wallboard, fresh paint and renovated lobby, as well as other improvements.
The Medina site is located in a former roller-skating rink on West Center Street.
Joslyn, the dialysis manager, has worked for Lake Plains for 15 years, starting as a nurse. She said the dialysis sites are their own communities, with patients and staff getting to know each other.
The reopening of the Medina site will make the traveling easier for many of the patients, Joslyn said.
Parker said she was thrilled when Joslyn announced it would reopen on Monday.
“I was so excited I couldn’t sleep,” Parker said.
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