Fresenius Medical Care’s Emergency Response Plans Ensure Access to Dialysis Treatments Even When Winter’s at its Worst
December 15 2014 - 10:05AM
Business Wire
Company Offers Tips to Help Patients Prepare
for Severe Winter Storms
Weather forecasters aren’t expecting another “Polar Vortex” to
create widespread sub-zero temperatures across the United States
this winter. But they are expecting a weak “El Nino” ocean-warming
pattern over the eastern Pacific Ocean to contribute to
above-average precipitation across the southern and eastern states,
as well as colder-than average temperatures along the eastern
seaboard and Gulf Coast.
When severe weather hits, access to treatment can be a matter of
life and death for dialysis patients, who require life-sustaining
treatment typically three times a week to remove waste products and
extra fluids from their blood after their kidneys have failed.
In anticipation of the coming winter’s blizzards, flooding and
other weather-related emergencies, some of which could potentially
interrupt treatments for its more than 174,000 North American
dialysis patients, Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA),
continues to update and refine its extensive disaster-response
plans. FMCNA, the nation’s leading network of dialysis facilities,
works closely throughout the year with local governments and
community organizations such as the Kidney Community Emergency
Response (KCER) Coalition to ensure that patients will be able to
continue receiving uninterrupted treatments, medical supplies,
medicines and lab services during emergencies.
To ensure that the needs of both patients and FMCNA clinical
staff are met in times of emergency, the company’s Incident Command
Team maintains a fleet of fully-equipped recreational vehicles and
tractor trailers, as well as generators, fuel, food and medical
supplies that can be quickly deployed following a natural disaster.
It also activates an Emergency Hotline during disasters to help
affected patients with emergency plans or information on arranging
treatment at alternate facilities.
“Our emergency response plans have helped thousands of Fresenius
Medical Care patients and staff prepare for, and successfully
weather the impacts of hurricanes, floods, tornados and the most
severe winter storms,” said Bill Numbers, FMCNA senior vice
president of operations shared services and incident commander for
disaster response and planning. “Our ultimate goal is always to
ensure our patients’ welfare, even in the most difficult
circumstances.”
Weathering Winter Emergencies
FMCNA recommends that dialysis patients prepare for winter
storms and weather emergencies with:
Planning:
Create a disaster preparedness plan ahead of
time with your dialysis care team and family.
Contacts:
Keep a list of emergency contacts and personal information with you
at all times, including ID, insurance, type of dialysis treatment
you’re on and a list of medications and allergies.
Forecasts:
Monitor local weather forecasts, and be in touch with your dialysis
facility when bad weather threatens.
Supplies:
Pre-pack a bag with first-aid kit, flashlight and batteries,
blankets, radio, cell phone and medications.
Food:
Store three days of food that is compliant with your dialysis diet.
Transport:
Arrange backup transport (for in-center dialysis patients) to your
treatment clinic with friends, neighbors or family members.
Training:
Review the directions given during training (for home dialysis
patients) on how to continue dialysis when the power is out.
Insulin:
Adjust insulin dosage (for diabetics) as directed by a doctor if
severe storms or flooding are imminent.
For more on FMCNA’s disaster response plans, as well as a link
to an online guide from the U.S. Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services on how dialysis patients and their caregivers can
prepare for severe weather and other emergencies, see:
www.ultracare-dialysis.com/DisasterResponse.
Patients seeking emergency help should call FMCNA’s toll-free
Patient Emergency Hotline (activated during disasters) at:
1-800-626-1297.
About Fresenius Medical Care North America
Through its leading network of more than 2,150 dialysis
facilities in North America and vascular access centers,
laboratory, pharmacy and affiliated hospitals and nephrology
practices, Fresenius Medical Care provides renal services to
hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States,
Mexico and Canada. It is also the continent’s top producer of
dialysis equipment, dialyzers and related disposable products and a
major supplier of renal pharmaceuticals. For more information about
the company, visit www.fmcna.com; for information about patient
services, visit www.ultracare-dialysis.com.
FMCNA has launched a company-wide program to provide flu shots
to its 230,000 patients and staff this season, at no cost to the
recipients. FMCNA will also donate $1 for every patient and
employee vaccinated through this program to be allocated among
charities supporting renal patients, and to the FMCNA CARES
employee emergency relief fund. Flu is a contagious respiratory
illness carried by airborne viruses and spread by sneezing and
coughing. For vulnerable segments of the population, such as people
with CKD and kidney failure, their condition and the demands of
their life-sustaining treatment, leave them at greater risk for
complications related to influenza. For more information on flu
prevention, visit www.slugthebug.com.
Media Contact:Upward AgencyHeather Smith, 1-857-453-6701
/ voiceheather.smith@upwardagency.comorCompany
contact:Fresenius Medical CareCharles Hendricks, 1-678-285-9235
/ voicecharles.hendricks@fmc-na.com
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