December 2018 by Kenny M.
My first time here and what the place lacks in decor and charm is made up for by the attentive staff. During my first session, the alarms at ALL of the stations were making all sorts of noise. Turns out, their water system crashed and they had to terminate everyone's session. So I was only dialysed for an hour. I was told (that in the ten years my tech has worked there) the water system has never crashed before. They were quick to hand out turkey dinners and "kidney safe" snacks. It was a package with five flavors of crisps. Really tasty. One thing I noticed is that from the time I get to a chair to the time the session starts is much faster than the hospital. During the process, my blood sugar took a nose dive to 29! YIKES. The staff gave me glucose liquid in my line and I came back around rather quickly. DaVita was kind enough to give me a welcome package. It includes a duffel bag, headphones, a neck pillow and pill cutters. Very cool if you ask me. I recommend bringing a seat cushion, a blanket, a beverage and snacks. Bringing a laptop and/or phone will help pass the time unless you choose to sleep. I would also recommend bringing noise-canceling headphones to drown out all the beeping alarms. They offered me a time slot on the following day, but I have a couple of medical appointments. On the way out, I was offered, "Welcome to the family." That was nice.
