Kerry Jones

Patients in need of dialysis are often some of the sickest in hospital. Some are in intensive care unit and it’s risky to move them, some are undergoing treatment for cancer and some can be suffering from multiple organ failure. So imagine if you have to tell one of those patients you had to cut short their treatment?

Kerry Jones is the Clinical Team Leader in Cabrini’s dialysis unit, which had delivered 400 dialysis sessions in the period between opening in early 2015 and 2016, when Kerry realised a new machine was needed.

“Initially we expected 20 treatments a month, but about half-way through last year we noticed we were doing 40-plus treatments a month and in December 2017 we did 60 treatments,” she explains.

“And there were times when we had five patients and it’s really difficult to do five patients a day and we also need have support from the oncology staff if something goes pear-shaped.”

After being approached by staff, Cabrini Foundation asked donors to support the purchase of a new dialysis machine. The new machine has completely changed the way Kerry Jones does her job.

“It takes the pressure of us trying to juggle times and get patients here and not compromise their care by shortening treatments.  It gives us the flexibility to do more patients in a day,” she explains.

Kerry Jones says the machine also enables the unit to treat a wider variety of patients in differing ways, with much more flexibility.

“The benefits of the machine is that it can do three different types of dialysis and it allow us to treat patients who are less stable than regular patients who would be getting dialysis out in the community. They’re probably the best machines on the market; they’re easy to use, they’re reliable,” she says.