YELLOWKNIFE - Dan Norris of Hay River knows all about the difficulties of accessing dialysis in the NWT.

Norris, 70, has been on dialysis for three years. That included a year-and-a-half he relocated to Edmonton because there was no opening in Yellowknife.

Rodger Blake, the dialysis co-ordinator in Hay River, stands by one of three new dialysis machines at H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I was tied to the dialysis machine down there," he said, remembering he was unable to return to Hay River during that time.

In July, when an opening arose in Yellowknife, he moved back to Hay River.

"I had to fly to Yellowknife three times a week, every week," he said. "I love flying, but it gets boring after a while."

Norris would have to get up at 5 a.m., catch an 8 a.m. flight, get dialysis treatment between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., and be on the plane back to Hay River at 5:30 p.m.

Now, with the addition of dialysis services in Hay River, Norris can be at a unit within minutes. "I'm absolutely delighted," he said.

The travel to Yellowknife was starting to wear him down, he said.

Despite Hay River's recent ascension to the select few NWT communities offering dialysis treatment, don't expect the service to spread rapidly or widely.

Dialysis appears destined to be limited to larger, regional centres.

On Feb. 1, Hay River's three new dialysis machines - at a cost of $32,000 each - added to the five in Yellowknife and three in Fort Smith.

However, Sylvia Haener, chief executive officer of Stanton Territorial Health Authority in Yellowknife, said it is unlikely dialysis can be offered in many other communities.

Haener explained a physician is required to supervise dialysis, and many NWT communities only have nursing stations. Plus, she said, specially trained nurses are required to operate the dialysis equipment and they are often in short supply.

Dialysis patients in smaller communities will continue to have to travel to larger communities or relocate for treatment

Haener said there are currently 13 dialysis patients in Yellowknife, and she is not aware of any flying in from smaller communities.

If some of those patients are from smaller communities, she said, "They may have relocated."

Haener said Fort Simpson is being considered for dialysis machines in the next couple of years.

While no one in Fort Simpson is currently on dialysis, she noted, "We're starting to see patients approaching renal failure."

Most dialysis patients need treatment three times a week to remove impurities from blood caused by kidney failure.

Haener said renal failure is often connected to diabetes, which is becoming more common in the NWT because of obesity and poor diet.

In Hay River, there are three dialysis patients, with one driving in from Fort Resolution, said Paul Vieira, CEO of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority.

Vieira said, with the new dialysis machines, one person who had relocated elsewhere was able to return home and others no longer have to travel three times a week to Yellowknife.

"For those people and their families, it's an amazing lifestyle change," Vieira said, adding maintaining trained nurses is a key factor in sustaining the program in Hay River.

In Fort Smith, there are two dialysis patients.

Dana Rasiah, CEO of the Fort Smith Health and Social Services Authority, said four nurses are trained to operate the equipment.

However, last summer the dialysis patients had to be sent to Yellowknife for two months because of a shortage of trained nurses.

While there is talk about a dialysis unit for Fort Simpson, Norris, who served as the commissioner for the NWT between 1984 and 1989, has another community in mind.

"I think Inuvik would be an excellent place," he said.

Norris noted, when he was a dialysis patient in Edmonton, he met people from the Inuvik area also receiving the treatment.

Right now, there is no dialysis in the northern part of the NWT, he said. "They go wherever they can to get dialysis," said Norris.

However, Dr. Abraham de Klerk, medical director with the Beaufort Delta Health and Social Services Authority, said there are no plans to obtain a dialysis unit.

In his 16 years in the area, de Klerk said he has been aware of only two people requiring dialysis, and no one from the region is currently travelling to get the treatment elsewhere.

The medical director noted dialysis requires expensive and specialized equipment, specialized nurses willing to stay long-term and doctors with experience in the treatment.

"Dialysis is not something most GPs do," he said.

Inuvik looked at dialysis about 10 years ago and determined it was not feasible to offer in the community, de Klerk added.

Norris said it is difficult to know how many people from the NWT are receiving dialysis treatment elsewhere.

"It's hard to get a handle on it, because they're coming and going between here and southern Canada."