Quebec Cree expand dialysis options in territory

Harriet Shem says home dialysis has improved her quality of life so much. 

The Chisasibi, Que., resident used to have to go to her local hospital three times a week for four hours each time during business hours to undergo hemodialysis treatment. She would miss many hours of work each week and was unable to travel easily. 

"With home dialysis you can do [it] in the evenings after supper, after you are done with your little ones," said Shem, in a video release. 

"You can sit in the living room and watch TV with your children … [I can] play board games while I have dialysis or help them with their homework … and play cards too." 

Even before home dialysis, Shem was one of the lucky ones. Many other Cree patients need to leave their communities altogether to receive dialysis in places like Montreal.

The Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) is hoping to help more patients at home with the opening the first home dialysis training centre in Cree territory in Waskaganish in Quebec. An inauguration ceremony was held Tuesday.

The centre, which is named Ispeyimuunikamikw — the Hope Centre, will offer training and patient support in two home dialysis techniques. It will be part of the Home Dialysis Training Centre and Respiratory Clinic in Waskaganish, located in the old police station.

New training centre brings hope

"It brings hope to people that are on dialysis [and] have been in the South for a long time. One by one, some of them will be able to come home, get trained and take their machines home with them, and then return to their communities and to their families," said Bertie Wapachee, the chairperson of the CBHSSJB.  

The two home dialysis techniques that will be taught at the centre are peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. The training will be given by specialized nurses, in collaboration with nephrologists at the McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal. 

In hemodialysis, blood is pumped out of the body to an artificial kidney machine, and returned via tubes that connect a person to the machine. In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of one's own belly acts as a natural filter.

Wapachee said it will bring a profound benefit to Cree communities. 

"It's one thing to be in the South, in a hotel, eating from the same menu every day and missing your family, your children, [or] spouses in some cases. So it's a big deal," said Wapachee.

The CBHSSJB started offering home dialysis to some patients in 2019, but people like Shem still needed to travel to Montreal for six weeks to get trained to use the technology. The Hope Centre represents the first opportunity for training to be offered in a Cree community in the territory. 

Cree health board officials said in a release that with "soaring rates of kidney disease," they hope the initiative will give more people more autonomy and a better quality of life.  

"Spending a long time away from home is an ordeal that no one wants to go through," said Nancy Shecapio-Blacksmith, the director of Professional Services and Quality Assurance for the CBHSSJB in a news release, adding that the average wait for a kidney transplant is one to two years. 

Right now hemodialysis services are available in Chisasibi and Mistissini, and home hemodialysis is available in Chisasibi and Waswanipi, say health board officials. The Ispeyimuunikamikw — the Hope Centre in Waskaganish will also offer hemodialysis on-site, on top of training patients in home hemodialysis, said Wapachee.