MCCRACKEN COUNTY, Ky. ─ Despite the snow, local public buses ensured patients got the care they needed on Friday in Western Kentucky.
About half of Mercy Health – Lourdes Hospital’s kidney care patients used the Paducah Area Transit System, or PATS, to make it to their dialysis appointments.
The Murray-Calloway Transit Authority and Fulton County Transit Authority made sure patients got to their appointments safely.
Fulton County Transit Authority Executive Director Kevin Kelley said drivers took extra precautions with the snow. Two drivers traveled on each bus to help patients in the snow, and they finished transporting patients around 4:30 p.m. Friday.
According to the clinic manager of the dialysis treatment center at Mercy Health, these services are crucial because these treatments are how her patients survive.
PATS drivers were out in the snow Friday picking up clients and dropping them off at their doctor appointments.
For dialysis patients at Mercy Health Lourdes, this service is crucial.
Rebecca Lopez is a licensed practical nurse in the office. She loves working there because of a special moment earlier this week.
“The registered nurse that day was telling a patient her creatinine levels, and what that is, is her kidney function levels, and it had greatly improved, and she just started wiping tears of joy. And I said I’m happy, so happy for you… [when] your kidneys aren’t working, and if they turn around, that’s almost a miracle,” Lopez said.
Clinic manager Rose Stringer said it doesn’t happen often, so they need patients to make their appointments.
“You get uremic, and you start getting confused; you get nausea, all those, you know, sicknesses. You know, you may think you have the flu or something, but it could be your kidneys are failing,” Stringer said.
And if they rescheduled everyone, it could cause more problems.
“But then if a lot of them call in, like, you know, today because of the snow, or if we didn’t have the PATS bus bringing them, and they do all come tomorrow. We don’t have enough chairs for everybody to run, so it’s very important that, you know, they can come on their days,” she said.
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