Grande Ronde Hospital has been gradually rolling out a new patient service designed to help keep patients closer to home. This new dialysis service, overseen by Wade Twilegar in the Intensive Care Unit, has been a long-anticipated addition for years. For rural hospitals, a common challenge has been seeing patients needing routine dialysis flown out when they develop an additional medical condition—such as pneumonia or heart failure exacerbations—that might otherwise be manageable locally. Determined to address this, a group of GRH clinical leaders, including Twilegar, researched and vetted potential solutions. With the strong support of hospital leadership, this vision began to take shape, allowing GRH to invest in state-of-the-art dialysis equipment and partner with Equum Medical, a healthcare provider network dedicated to bringing specialized services to rural communities like Union County.

Since the service’s official launch in June, patients can now receive essential dialysis care right here in our community, even when facing minor health complications. “We’re starting with the basics,” Twilegar said, explaining that the ICU team can offer dialysis to stable patients. “Most of them are already clients out at Fresenius.”

Fresenius Kidney Care, located on Walton Road in Island City, offers regular dialysis treatments three to five times a week for patients in good health. However, previously, any hospitalization due to illness meant these patients would need to travel as far as Boise for their kidney care. This new service now allows GRH to support patients facing additional illnesses, preventing unnecessary travel and keeping care local.

“After we get comfortable with the basic stable patients, we’ll start working with more critical patients—at least that’s the hope,” Twilegar said. Although patients in critical condition are not yet eligible for local dialysis, this added service is already making a difference.

The journey to bring dialysis services to GRH was truly a team effort. Critical contributors like Donna Lock, Andrew Slack, and Alexia Whittington brought invaluable dialysis expertise and played essential roles in training the ICU team. With her years of experience, Alexia guided the team in accessing grafts and fistulas, using the NxStage dialysis machine, and meeting documentation standards, ensuring that the new service was delivered with precision and care.

The partnership with Equum Medical has also been instrumental in making this program a reality. Through their telehealth support, GRH’s ICU team can connect with a remotely available nephrologist, who advises the care team to provide around-the-clock care to dialysis patients. “Without Equum, we wouldn’t have a dialysis program,” Twilegar acknowledged. The collaboration ensures patients have access to specialized clinical coverage, which can lead to better patient outcomes.

“At Equum Medical, our mission has always been to bring top-quality care to every patient, regardless of location,” said Dr. Corey Scurlock, founder of Equum Medical. “The partnership with Grande Ronde Hospital allows us to expand our impact, ensuring that rural communities receive the specialized care they need.”

Twilegar also emphasizes that the entire nursing staff deserves tremendous credit. ICU nurses like Amanda Perkins and Arlee Anderson completed additional training to prepare for this service, and they’re excited to see the difference it’s already making. “It’s always challenging to do something new,” Perkins shared, “but it’s so helpful not to send patients to other hospitals.” Anderson added, “This is an exciting opportunity to provide for our community.”