Climate change disasters require emergency plans for dialysis patients, experts say

When catastrophic floods severed a bridge and washed away or closed highways in southern British Columbia, Mitchell Dyck and other patients needing regular life-saving dialysis had to be flown to hospital by helicopter.

While some dialysis patients were put up in hotels, Dyck stayed with his grandparents in Abbotsford until portions of Highway 1 were open to traffic two weeks later. After receiving dialysis for nearly two years, Dyck had a kidney transplant in August 2022 and now takes eight medications, including immunosuppressants and drugs for high blood pressure that he always stocks in case of an emergency.

She said Montreal General Hospital cared for at least 20 extra dialysis patients last summer after Cree Nation communities in northern Quebec were evacuated due to wildfires. “We want to apply experiences from disasters including an earthquake that displaced people in Japan and experiences in Ukraine due to war and climate-change emergencies that forced people out of their communities,” Sandal said.

Sarah Thomas, a registered nurse and emergency management lead at BC Renal, said the network is unique because it works with the province’s five regional health authorities in planning for emergencies so dialysis patients can be sent out of their home community if an evacuation order has been issued.

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