INSIDE
SPORTS Benet wins regional Page 11
NEWS Special events committee seeks community input
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Our Village, Our News
www.buglenewspapers.com
OCTOBER 24, 2012
Vol. 4 No. 47
U.S. Renal Care opens dialysis facility New Downers Grove location will help treat kidney disease in western suburbs. By Robin Ambrosia Staff Reporter
Downers Grove recently celebrated the grand opening of U.S. Renal Care’s new 13-station dialysis facility, which will serve patients in the western suburbs. “A renal care center is a facility that allows outpatient treatment of kidney failure,” said Dr. Anis Rauf, medical director of the Downers Grove renal facility. “When the kidney’s fail, the body is not able to get rid of toxic waste products. So you need to be hooked up to a machine that cleans your blood and gets the fluid out.” Renal dialysis is the process of filtering the blood when the kidneys are unable by using a machine. It can be used to allow kidneys to heal from short-term problems, for long-term kidney support or while waiting for a kidney transplant. “The top two causes of kidney
“Kidney
disease is the silent disease. You won’t have symptoms until it is very late in the disease.” Dr. Anis Rauf, U.S. Renal Care. failure is diabetes and high blood pressure so if you have uncontrolled diabetes or high blood pressure for many years,” Rauf said.“Kidney disease is the silent disease. You won’t have symptoms until it is very late in the disease,” According to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of kidney disease are fatigue and weakness, shorten of breath, changes in urinal output, swelling of the feet and ankles, persistent itching, or chest pain (sign of possible fluid accumulating in
Submitted/Photo Molly Miller
From Left: Dr. Anis Rauf, Kara Murphy, Connie Payton, Secretary of State Jesse White, U.S. Renal Care Nurse Debbie Engler, Patient Gerald Milligan, Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully, U.S. Renal Care Facility Administrator Allana Kohler and Dr. Mohammed Ahmed participate in a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the new Downers Grove dialysis facility.
the lungs). Many of the patients who will use the center are expected to be referrals from Good Samaritan Hospital, according to U.S. Renal officials. “We want the patients of the western suburbs to have a
choice,” Rauf said. “Long gone are the days when dialysis meant the death sentence. We want a comfortable environment where people can feel at home because they spend four hours three times a week for each treatment so we’ve designed
our facility to feel at home.” Connie Payton, wife of the late Chicago Bear Walter Payton, attended the opening. Prior to his death caused by kidney disease, Walter spoke See RENAL, page 2