Local Renal Health Centre Program

Local Renal Health Centre Program

The Manitoba Renal Program (MRP) Local Renal Health Centres Program supports Local Renal Health Centres (rural dialysis units) in partnership with Regional Health Authorities.

Local Renal Health Centres are located in:

  • Ashern
  • Hodgson
  • Berens River
  • Gimli
  • Pine Falls
  • Selkirk
  • Flin Flon
  • The Pas
  • Garden Hill
  • Norway House
  • Thompson
  • Winkler (Boundary Trails)
  • Portage
  • Dauphin
  • Russell
  • Swan River

The LRHC Program team is located at Health Sciences Centre:

Health Sciences Centre
GG621 820 Sherbrook Street
Winnipeg Manitoba
Phone: 204-787-7950
Fax: 204-787-7038
Email: kidneyhealth@sharedhealthmb.ca

The team consists of:

  • A nephrologist
  • A manager
  • Program Director
  • Social Worker
  • Dietitian
  • Pharmacist
  • Aboriginal Liaison Coordinator

To be placed on the waiting list for the dialysis unit closest to your community, please ask your current dialysis unit to send a referral. When you are added to the waiting list for a LRHC, your current dialysis unit will receive a letter of confirmation. If you have questions about how long you will need to wait, please speak to your Renal Social Worker or contact the LRHC Program.

Dialysis Care in Local Renal Health Centres

Patient care in LRHCs is nurse-managed and nurses consult with physicians weekly and as needed to ensure optimal patient care. Local centres offer a chance for patients to dialyze in a smaller centre that may be closer to home or more accessible. All care provided by the program is standardized and coordinated throughout the province.

How the Waiting List Works

In Manitoba, you are placed on a Local Renal Health Centre (LRHC) hemodialysis waiting list based on your in-centre hemodialysis start date. If you have refused a spot, or do not want be on the list and then change your mind, you are placed on the list as per your new request date.

If you receive a transplant, are training for home hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, your permanent dialysis space or place on the LRHC waiting list is not given up until you have been successful in the new modality for at least one month. At that time your name is removed from both the permanent and waiting lists.

Assessment

Prior to being placed in a permanent dialysis space in a LRHC, the LRHC Program will do a review and assessment at Health Sciences Centre to see if you are suitable for transfer to your preferred dialysis unit. The assessment team includes the kidney doctor, nurse, pharmacist, dietitian and social worker.

Short Transient Visits

Our mandate is to offer assigned dialysis spots. We will assign dialysis spaces as soon as possible using our waiting list. This means that there are very limited opportunities for transient visits (temporary spots for dialysis patients visiting from another town/city/province).

  • Requests for transient dialysis are given priority on a first-come, first-serve basis depending on availability.
  • Requests can be made by speaking to your Renal Social Worker or calling the LRHC Program office.
  • All transient visits depend on the situation in the dialysis unit and each individual’s medical status.
  • It is expected that you will follow a recommended schedule for transient treatments. If you are found to be a disruption to the dialysis unit, or if there are issues with your return to the city/town where you receive dialysis, you will not be considered for transient visits again until the LRHC Program
    re-approves you.

Please note: Patients are responsible for their transportation for visits to other communities and three times a week for their dialysis appointments. This is not covered by Northern Patient Transport or First Nations Inuit Health Branch. If you need to fly Perimeter Air to go home and are not missing dialysis you can speak to your Renal Social Worker to see if you are eligible for a discounted fare.

Transient Visit Approval Process

All Transient Dialysis requests are looked at by the LRHC Program team. Many factors are considered when looking at transient dialysis. Primary focus is on filling the spots permanently and taking care of the more than 250 people on dialysis in rural areas throughout the province. We do our best to make this as fair a process as ossible, however due to patients’ medical status and transient space available there will be limits on who can visit the unit. There are likely to be times when patients are unable to visit other towns/units when they wish to. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.