Published Sunday, April 11, 1999 Nurses at Dialysis Clinic Inc. in Hermitage screen the 73-year-old woman's vital signs, weight and swelling.
The Greenville woman sits in the chair, taking a nap or watching the morning talk shows on television. A large machine next to her pulls her blood out, cleans it and puts it back into her body.
"I'm tired when it's done," she said, propping her feet up and settling in for the wait.
Mrs. Scrivens has an implant in her arm that allows her to "plug in" to a dialysis machine. The machine pulls blood out of her artery, cleans it and then returns the blood through a vein.
"It doesn't hurt at all," she said as she watched the nurse hook up the tubing.
The average person's blood is cleaned about 12 times during the treatment, said Deborah Gerlach, the clinical supervisor at the clinic. The treatments work with the fluids in the blood that contain potassium and sodium.
Mrs. Scrivens, like many of the other patients, brings her own pillow and blanket for her spot, which is the third seat on the right.
The treatment room overlooks a wooded lot and has large windows around the back.
"It's beautiful here," Mrs. Scrivens said. "The light makes it more cheerful."
Mrs. Scrivens and others coming to the center for treatment greet each other as they enter the lobby and chat while they wait to be taken into the treatment room.
"I like being a little bit closer and everyone is so friendly," she said.
Patients and the nurses at the center become friends during the hours they spend together at the clinic.
"The patients develop a strong bond with the nurses," Ms. Gerlach said. "They do spend a lot of time together."
The non-profit dialysis clinic, which is affiliated with UPMC Horizon, has eased additional strain many patients were experiencing because clinics were more than an hour away.
Mrs. Scrivens had been driving to Meadville for her treatments "making for a long day," she said.
Her driver and son-in-law Charles "Butch" Wogisch didn't look forward to the drive.
"I was dreading the travel when this winter came," Wogisch said.
The family also appreciates that a doctor is on sight seeing patients and, in Mrs. Scrivens case, working with other doctors to balance the treatments for a variety of health problems.
"For us this is more of a necessity than a convenience to have a center in Mercer County," Wogisch said. "We're glad to see it."
Wogisch will stick around the center and watch television some days or he'll go out for a sandwich or to some of the local stores.
"Another woman brings her mother in so some days we'll sit and compare stories," he said.
The center's affiliation with UPMC Horizon also allows the family to take Mrs. Scrivens to the Greenville hospital when an emergency situation arises. Before, the elderly woman may have been stabilized in Greenville but was then transported to Meadville because no dialysis equipment was available.
"It's amazing how big of difference this center has made," he said.
