Turning sleep time into treatment time in Rohnert Park

More than 300,000 people in the U.S. are on dialysis for months or even years while they wait for a kidney transplant. For most, that means spending four hours a day, three days each week at a dialysis center, limiting their ability to work or go to school.

With the Gentle Night nocturnal dialysis program now offered in Rohnert Park, patients have the choice of sleeping at the clinic three times a week while they receive eight-hour dialysis treatments.

“People in the program love it,” said Kelli Godfrey, clinical manager of the Rohnert Park Satellite Healthcare facility. “They have more energy and don’t have the same tiredness many patients have after a daytime session.”

Adds Stephanie Hull, the company’s regional director of operations: “Their lab work is also better.” Lab work checks such things as the amount of kidney function, waste in the blood and hemoglobin in the blood.

The Rohnert Park facility has been open for a year on Commerce Boulevard, in the shopping center behind Black Bear Diner and the new Walgreen’s. It is Satellite’s first nighttime program in Sonoma County and its third county facility, joining others in Windsor and Santa Rosa.

Typically, patients have four-hour dialysis programs, which vary based on the patient’s size and blood volume. Most are strictly regulated, with daytime appointments every other day.

Satellite introduced the nighttime dialysis concept in 2009, aimed at providing a more convenient, less stressful method of treatment. The slower dialysis process puts less strain on the body, Hull said, and gives patients more control.

“They (patients) feel like they lose a lot of control in their lives, which is one of the more emotional factors of treatment,” she said.

“We tell them what time to be here, what to eat and what to drink,” Godfrey said.

The night program allows some patients to maintain a more normal schedule while making time for time-consuming dialysis.

“We do it for the outcome and for the patient care option,” Hull said.

With just eight stations for nocturnal patients, the program is not really a profitable endeavor, Hull said. But if demand increases, the clinic can adjust to serve more clients.

“The structure is in place. Our Cupertino facility faced a rapid increase in demand , so we have faced this issue before,” Hull said.

To learn more, contact Kelli Godfrey, clinical manager at Satellite Healthcare, 6265 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park, at 303-2040 or godfreyk@satellitehealth.com.