New Kidney Center Opens at Hospital

Louise White was among those most appreciative of the new $1.5-million kidney center at Mission Community Hospital.

White, who attended the center’s grand opening ceremony Thursday, sits in a big rose-colored chair for three to four hours, three times a week, as a dialysis machine pumps her blood through plastic tubes to a reusable filter then back to her body.

The center, which features a large fish tank to help soothe patients undergoing treatment, also provides televisions attached to individual dialysis machines.

“With the TV, I watch something that I don’t like and I fall asleep,” said White, 67, of Van Nuys.

Former Assemblyman Richard Katz arrived to cut the ribbon for the grand opening. Katz and City Councilman Richard Alarcon were in a dead heat for a state Senate seat after Tuesday’s primary and are waiting for absentee ballots to be counted.

Katz said the goal of the center “is to make sure that everyone who needs treatment, prevention and care gets it. It’s going to mean better treatment for the people who live in this area.”

As a group, Latinos, who are the majority ethnic population near the center, suffer kidney problems 25% more often than the general population, said Richard Carpe, a health care consultant to the hospital and the new facility.

“A lot of the people that are having to commute will now not have to commute,” Carpe said.

Beginning Monday, the center will open at 5 a.m. to accommodate patients who need to use the facility before they go to work.

The facility, operated by Simi Valley-based Kidney Center Inc., is located at 14860 Roscoe Blvd., Suite 101.