The Challenge
Scarborough is home to a “diabetes hotspot” with the second-highest number of diabetes patients per capita in Ontario. There is also a high incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), resulting in the need for life-sustaining dialysis treatment. Our community is over 56% immigrants to Canada, which means that many patients we serve come from backgrounds that are genetically predisposed to diabetes and kidney disease. To address this need, SHN operates one of the largest regional Nephrology programs in North America. However, the need for dialysis is growing, and our existing spaces are aging and will not be able to keep up with future demands.
Your Impact
Thanks to donor support, SHN is moving ahead with several urgently-needed expansion projects to ensure that we have adequate space and more calming, comfortable facilities to provide dialysis and kidney care. These projects include:
- Under Construction – building a brand-new dialysis clinic at Centenary Hospital to provide 21 treatment bays in a modern, easily-accessible space and expand capacity by nine treatment bays; and
- Under Construction – adding a new section to the General Hospital dialysis clinic to provide 12 new isolation stations for patients that may be simultaneously receiving care for an infectious disease or who are particularly vulnerable;
- Planning Underway – renovating existing areas in the General Hospital dialysis clinic to improve the experience for patients and staff.
These are only some of the urgent priorities that we are now able to act on thanks to the support received through the Love, Scarborough campaign. SHN has more plans underway to continue expanding our kidney care capacity and to leverage our new Education and Research teams to continue innovating and improving the quality of kidney care.