Gracie Strom and Stan McDonald
Stan McDonald, age 86, was diagnosed with kidney failure three years ago and, almost overnight, everything about his life changed. Because the kidneys help keep the body’s blood clean, those with the disease must undergo dialysis (treatment with a machine that cleans the blood) on a regular basis. McDonald will need dialysis three days a week, four hours a day, for the rest of his life.
“You talk about dramatic,” he said, “having kidney disease is like having a second job. It consumes your life.”
McDonald, who lives in Newport, previously had to drive to Lincoln City for every dialysis appointment because his hometown hospital, Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, didn’t have a dialysis center. There were many more dialysis patients like him in the Newport area. Most of them are elderly, and the constant travel took a toll on their already fragile health.
In 2008, McDonald and his wife, Gracie Strom, decided to do something about this problem. They made a pledge of $250,000 to the Pacific Communities Health District Foundation and worked with the foundation to launch a campaign to build a dialysis center on the hospital campus.
Thanks to funding from the Pacific Communities Health District, Samaritan Pacific Health Services, and a $400,000 campaign by the foundation, the $1.8 million center has become a reality. The 4,000 square-foot dialysis center is able to treat 16 patients per week, with the capacity to grow to 48 patients when needed.
“I know one couple that lives on the upper Alsea,” McDonald said. “They have to drive 74 miles one way for their treatments. They have to get up well before dawn to make it. Just imagine what the new center will mean for them.”
Strom talks about the center as a “dream come true” for dialysis patients in the area. “We never thought something like this would be possible,” she said. “And now we’re seeing it become a reality.”