In-patient dialysis will now be available at Lompoc Valley Medical Center (LVMC).
The hospital’s certification by the California Department of Public Health was approved Thursday.
While it does not mean all dialysis patients can come to the hospital for treatment, hospital officials say those admitted to the hospital as a patient for other medical reasons can receive dialysis.
Until now, anyone in need of dialysis needed to travel to either Santa Maria or Santa Barbara.
“We take care of dialysis patients at Cottage,” Dr. Andrew Ross said in a press release. “When they’re from Lompoc, it’s the wife or the husband or the son or the daughter driving every day from Lompoc to Cottage. It takes a toll. And sometimes, they’re in the hospital for one, two or many weeks.”
The service will be up and running on Aug. 1.
“The idea is, because we have a dialysis program, they’ll be able to stay here for their other medical needs,” Dr. Ross explained.
Yvette Cope, the LVMC's chief operating officer, says it’s taken about 1.5 years of planning.
"Lompoc Valley Medical Center is thrilled to provide this service to our community and to keep our patients here in our hospital and in our community versus transferring out to any other facility,” Cope said, adding that there are more than 100 people in the Lompoc area in need of dialysis.
