Larger storefront location will enhance patient experience
RAPID CITY, S.D. (April 22, 2021) – Monument Health has announced it will move its outpatient dialysis clinic to a larger, more accessible storefront location in the Dakota Market Square retail complex at East North and Cambell streets in Rapid City. The move is tentatively planned for Oct. 20.
Dakota Market Square, formerly Kmart shopping center, is currently undergoing major renovations to create a new retail center.
Mike Thompson, Director of Dialysis for Monument Health, said the existing dialysis clinic in the Monument Health Medical Clinic on Flormann Street has outgrown that location. The unit has 24 stations, each with a chair and a dialysis machine. Monument Health also offers dialysis care at Rapid City Hospital and in Spearfish.
All of Monument Health’s dialysis stations get heavy use every day. At times, out-of-town dialysis patients have been unable to travel to the Black Hills because dialysis was not available for them.
“Our dialysis needs keep growing. We need more chairs and we need more space,” Thompson said.
The new 16,000-square-foot Dakota Market Square clinic will have 36 dialysis stations. In addition, the new clinic will all be at ground level, so patients in wheelchairs won’t have to navigate elevators. The clinic location will offer access to public transportation, and out-of-town patients will have easy access from Interstate 90 and S.D. Highway 79.
Some patients receive a type of dialysis that can be done at home, and the new clinic will offer space for training and other support services.
Dialysis is required when a patient’s kidneys fail to filter toxins and waste from their blood. The dialysis machine removes the blood, cleans it, removes excess water, balances electrolytes and circulates the blood back into the body. The process takes about four hours, and it must be done as often as three times per week. Because patients spend a lot of time in dialysis, it’s important to provide roomy, safe, comfortable places for them to receive the therapy, Thompson said.
Kidney failure is often the result of diabetes, a disease that is particularly common in western South Dakota. Monument Health is the region’s largest provider of dialysis services.
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
Dan Daly
Monument Health
605-755-9178
ddaly@monument.health