Making it work: Dialysis doesn’t have to be debilitating, patient advocacy group says

An engineer who climbs mountains? An emergency room physician? The agenda for Home Dialyzors United's 3rd Annual Meet Up & Conference next month includes individuals who have figured out how to successfully integrate their kidney failure into their daily lives.

The two are speakers at the meeting, being held Oct. 7-10 in Baltimore (register at www.homedialyzorsunited.org). But they are not coming just to inspire; they truly fit the term ‘dialyzors’: individuals who have figured out how to successfully integrate their kidney failure into their daily lives.

"Home Dialysors United believes it is very important for renal professionals to learn from their patients and have their important efforts for home dialysis reinforced," says organization president Rich Berkowitz, who works five-nights-a-week nocturnal dialysis into his daily schedule of running a patient organization. Formerly called the NxStage Users Group, Berkowitz and other advocates have expanded the organization to include peritoneal dialysis patients.

Offering support to individuals interested in home dialysis is key, and while the modality choice is not for everyone, those with kidney failure can run into roadblocks. An ABC News report released on Friday talks about the challenges individuals face when trying to find centers and nephrolgists who encourage and are supportive of home therapy.

Speakers for the HDU conference include:

Philip le Roux. He is CEO and co-founder of Acrokin Engineering Inc., Laguna Hills, Calif., which provides technology solutions to clients in the motorsports, defense, green technology, and food industries. Le Roux has been involved in IndyCar and Formula 1 racing for a number of years, but he also enjoys the outdoors––including climbing Mt. Whitney three times. He reached the peak in 2011 and 2012.

Le Roux started both Acrokin Engineering and peritoneal dialysis in 2002. In 2003, he changed to in-center hemodialysis at the University of California-Irvine. Around 2005, he moved to St Joseph’s Hospital and its renal center to begin home hemodialysis.

Walter Bradley, MD. Bradley is Director of Emergency Services for Trinity Medical Center, Moline, Ill., Senior Medical Administrator for the Illinois Department of Public Health, and Medical Director and sworn officer for the Moline Police Department Crisis Containment Unit. He has provided leadership to health care organizations throughout his career, holding multiple top-level management positions.

Dedicated to improving patient care from the pre-hospital environment to the emergency department, he assists in the promotion of emergency medical services and trauma in his position at the Department of Public Health, while continuing to serve Trinity Medical Center. He balances his time between numerous organizations and activities and remains active at the chapter and national levels of ACEP, International Trauma Life Support, and as director of the state's Tactical Response Team. Bradley received a kidney from his sister in 1996, which lasted for 10 years. He began home dialysis in 2006 and performs nightly therapy six times a week.

Also speaking at the conference: former dialysis nurse Nancy Hewitt Spaeth, BE, RN, who has experience with all dialysis modalities, and Kathe LeBeau, Director of Patient Services and Public Policy at Northeast Kidney Foundation, Albany, NY, and a home hemodialyzor. -by Mark Neumann