Native Hawaiians Face High Rates Of Diabetes. That Means More Need For Dialysis …The number of dialysis centers in the islands is increasing to meet the need as more patients suffer from kidney failure.
When Glen Hayashida first started working at the National Kidney Foundation in 1995, Hawaii had fewer than 1,000 dialysis patients.
At the time, he was told that the number of patients reliant on the machines that perform the blood-filtering function of kidneys was expected to double nationally every decade. But in Hawaii, the rate of growth far surpassed that, with at least 4,000 patients on dialysis in the state, Hayashida estimates.
Soon there will be more. U.S. Renal Care, one of three companies running dialysis centers in Hawaii, is on the path to double the number of dialysis centers that it runs in the state by 2023.
