Bitterroot Health adds dialysis center

by John Dowd

Last Tuesday, Bitterroot Health and its partners were excited to host a ribbon cutting for a very unique and needed facility. Completed in August and having seen its first dialysis patient in mid-August, the new Bitterroot Health Dialysis Center will be able to deliver “life saving treatment” to patients in the Bitterroot.  

A representative of one of the partners, Dr. Shahid Chaudhary of Tigris Nephrology, said that prior to this facility, local patients faced long drives to Missoula for treatment, sometimes three days a week.

Chaudhary is owner of the nephrology practice, based out of Missoula, and has been doing outreach treatment for eight years serving surrounding communities like Ravalli County. During the ribbon cutting, Chaudhary said there are “so many heartbreaking examples,” of those who passed away and struggled before this facility was built, in this community. 

He said he realized early on “the need for patients to receive dialysis locally,” and the need for them to avoid the expense and inconvenience of travel challenges. According to him, they really wanted to “bring the cure closer to home.”

Chaudhary will be the medical director of the new facility. At the start, he or his team will be there three days out of the week. That could change in the future to fill community needs, and can easily be expanded.

Chaudhary and Tigris Nephrology are only one of four partners that came together to make this facility a reality. The others were Community Medical, Bitterroot Health and Dialysis Clinic, Inc. (DCI). 

Another to comment was Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, on behalf of the city. “This facility is another benefit to the city of Hamilton residents and those in the surrounding area,” said Farrenkopf. “Bitterroot Health continues to be a leader in providing quality medical care. We just welcome doctor Chaudhary and his staff to Hamilton.”

John Bishop, Bitterroot Health CEO, spoke on the challenges of creating the facility. He said the partners came together about three years ago to try to make things happen.

According to Bishop, years ago the idea came across his desk and it was just not possible at the time. “It kinda hurt to see a service that was so needed and know that it wasn’t feasible,” recalls Bishop. Such treatment is expensive to provide and house, and often these facilities require a certain patient load to be practical. However, after Chaudhary approached to further voice the need and eventually several groups came together, all chipped in to help provide the service. 

Eventually, the ball got rolling. During the ribbon cutting, Bishop said, “I’m so grateful to stand here today and see it come to fruition… This whole facility was a product of partnership.”

The facility will start with a single shift for 12 patients. Bishop said this is easy to scale up to two shifts, and they could potentially treat 72 people each week, three times a week.

Another to speak on behalf of Bitterroot Health was Pete Dunn, senior director of specialty services with Bitterroot Health. He described the partnership as “mission driven,” and said everyone had the same mission. He said prior to this facility, Chaudhary was providing outpatient nephrology services for Bitterroot Health patients. Now, there is a committed location for dialysis and a nephrology clinic. However, Bitterroot Health also needed operational expertise for dialysis, which came from DCI, who Dunn said runs the dialysis side of things.

Finally, on behalf of DCI, Stuart Redpath, COO of DCI, spoke on the project.

DCI is the largest nonprofit dialysis organization in the U.S. and they are a nationwide nonprofit that helps rural and underserved areas receive dialysis treatment. They are dialysis experts and train and hire staff for several locations, including the new Bitterroot Health Dialysis Center. They are based in Nashville, Tennessee, and have 250 dialysis clinics in 30 states.

According to Redpath, the entire project has been a group effort and he described the partnership as an “unusually philanthropic thing to do.” He added, “Nobody comes to this community to make money.” DCI goes to a lot of places that other groups and even nonprofits may not go, including rural communities like the Bitterroot Valley. In these places there may not be a large profit potential, but for him and DCI, their motivation comes down to their motto: “The patient is our reason for existence.” 

Redpath said they feel it is especially important because this treatment “saves lives,” and those who have to receive this type of treatment and who live in these types of areas need to make “long journeys for life saving care for the rest of their lives.” He is proud that they have been able to lessen that burden, together with the other organizations involved. 

“Everybody is bringing something to the table,” added Redpath. He described Chaudhary as an “involved and compassionate physician,” and said this facility “is something that really fits well in the campus.”

During the ribbon cutting, Redpath said, “I’m delighted for your community… I’m so proud of what we’ve built together.”