Around Utah

A new kidney transplant satellite clinic opened at Dixie Regional Medical Center on April 26. The new clinic is the first of its kind in Utah and is intended to eliminate the additional hardship of traveling to Salt Lake for evaluations.

“We’re seeing an increase in the number of patient referrals from Southern Utah,” says James Stinson, M.D., medical director of the Kidney Transplant Program at Intermountain Medical Center. “It’s the right time to reach out to those patients to minimize their travel. Many are already on regular dialysis for their conditions and it will be a lot easier on patients and their families to be seen closer to home.”

The clinic will see new patients who have been referred by a nephrologist as possible candidates for a kidney or a kidney/pancreas transplant, patients currently on the kidney transplant waiting list, and people who are healthy and considering becoming a living donor. All transplants will still take place at Intermountain Medical Center.

Staff for the kidney transplant clinic will fly from Salt Lake to St. George. The team will include a transplant surgeon, a transplant physician, a transplant coordinator, a dietician and a licensed clinical social worker from Intermountain Medical Center’s Transplant Services team.