Sick of it
Joined: 11 Feb 2003
Posts: 46
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2003 10:24 am Post subject: Helpful hints/getting started on Home Hemo
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THANK YOU ALL FOR THE POSTINGS on HOME HEMO CLINIC'S Keep them coming. If you have heard of one and are not sure please go ahead and post it. I will contact it and make sure it offers Home HEMO.<
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>NOW THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE HELPFULL HINTS ON GETTING STARTED, MEDICARE/INSURANCE ISSUES AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING THEY NEED TO KNOW POST AWAY.<
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>EIGHTEEN YEARS OF SALES AND MARKETING HAVE TAUGHT ME ONE TRUE THING THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY AROUND NO IF YOU LOOK LONG AND HARD ENOUGH!<
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> STAY HEALTHY AND LETS HELP EACH OTHER!<
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jfwag
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 5:07 am Post subject: Medicare...
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As far as helpfull hints about medicare. Don't worry about it. Sometimes the less you know is better. It takes up too much
ain space. The clinic will take care of that. When we were in training Medicare got billed as "in patient". When we went home Medicare was billed in either of two ways and I believe they were called a Schedule 1 and a Schedule 2. I think we went with a 2. It was a while ago but it had to do with money of course. Let the unit take care of that. The patient and caregiver will have alot more to worry about. I really know nothing about private insurance though. For us home hemo started out as a dream, much because of this board, then we were excepted very quickly by our Neph. and then we got mentally ready. We were more or less this units first home hemo clients to start from scratch. We sort of wrote the book for them as they say. Our life style changed in many ways. Committment is a big part. But remember the worst that can happen is that the patient, loved one, etc...has too go back to the unit. Maybe only a couple of times to give the helper a rest. They should tell you this right upfront. They did to us almost immediately. You need a
eak, you get one. I posted on another thread started be Marty what we did to get the house ready. I will think of other things as we go along though.
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Home Ready
Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Posts: 4
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 6:01 am Post subject: electrical
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Do any of the equipment such as RO or dialysis machine itself require a 220 outlet? Does bathroom need to be within a certain amount of feet for a sink to drain?<
>I am trying to finish a basement with home-hemo in mind.
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jfwag
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 6:10 am Post subject: ???
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Our equipment did not need 220. We had 100 amps with the f2008H machine hooked up to one line and another 100 line handled the RO. I am not sure about other machines, but I highly doubt anything would nee a 220. I am no sure on the distance from bathroom to machines. I am sure there might be a limit but our hoses ran about 20 feet. I will repost my other post on home things next.
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jfwag
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 6:14 am Post subject: Repost...
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A quick one on the house changes though. Everyone will be different. We really didn't make any major changes. We had recently had a fire so the house had updated electric 100 amps (I have heard some want 150) Two sep[erate lines though one for the machine and one for the RO system. We had plenty of storage space, and that is needed. We had done PD previously and that took up 3X's the space. I have heard it is the other way around though. We hooked up to a shower head (with an adapter, no big deal) and drained into the toilet. You also obviously need an area for the machine and a place to do the TX. In our case it was done in bed which downstairs at this time because of some amputations to Lois' legs. We had plenty of room. Some people might want to put down tile, we didn't but had hard wood floors and they worked fine. Yoour water will have to tested several times (besides the every TX water testing) We happened to have a septic tank and it work out well for us. The will notified by the center so they warn you when they might do say "line flushing" or some such thing they might be doing to the town water system. I think different units might require different things depending on the situation. I think Lin has said she has well water and has to something completely different. If I can't get a hold of some one look around FMC's web sites. They have a few the last time I looked and there should be some one listed for units that offer this.
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Home Ready
Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Posts: 4
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 10:10 am Post subject: storage
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I plan on having a large walk-in closet for bi-carb and supplies. Hopefully I can get started with basement soon I have people helping. I am very interested in treatments that do not require a helper such as Aksys or possibly cycler. Am very tired of having to rely on somebody else to ensure that everything is ok.
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ridgerunner
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 101
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 2:25 pm Post subject: homehemo
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i have been on home hemo for 6 years. i have dialyzed in a mobile home at home, in my vaction home. in my opinion you need a floor covering like tile or something that can be cleaned with a mild bleach solution. you are going to get some blood spills that are going to have to be cleaned up plus you need to keep the floor sterile. you need a water supply and drain. i think a water softner is essential if you have any minerals in the water. you need two seperate electric 110 electric lines. only fools use a chair when you can have a bed. i have always had a person in the house and i have needed them not for dialysis but other problems but i am 75 years old with other medical problems. THE MAJOR PROBLEM IS FINDING A PLACE THAT WILL SUPPORT A HOME PROGRAM.
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ridgerunner
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 101
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 2:30 pm Post subject: homehemo
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you want a machine that does not limit the time that you run. when you get on homehemo you will find the more you dialyze the better you feel so you do not want to have a machine that limits the time or when you take a treatment.
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Home Ready
Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Posts: 4
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:26 am Post subject: Flooring
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Yes, I have already been to the home improvement stores picking out tile with this in mind. Do you get more freedom as far as dietary restriction's and fluid intake with four treatments a week as apposed to three treatments a week? Is medicare picking up the extra teatments? As I mentioned before, another issue is not having to deal with control freaks at the clinic.
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Lin
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 337
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 4:23 am Post subject: Changes
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The program (FMC) that I looked into required at least 100 amp. (we recently upgraded to 150 amp.). The machine would need a dedicated line.<
>I often hear the people think
you need a big house and I don't have one, but figured I could just clean out some of the junk in the basement, so there was some extra room for supplies. My husband found some room between the studs in bathroom wall and made a built in linen closet so that the existing one in hallway could be used for other supplies; I also love to "hide" things under the bed in flat boxes so that is another place to put some things. We have carpet in the bedroom now, but either removing it, or at least removing part of it and putting some tile down seemed practical to do, and not that big a job. We put tile down in front of our front door recently and it's not a big deal.<
>We already have a water softener and inline water filter (lots of iron in water in our area of country) and these things were recommended to us also by FMC. <
>We have a small home, but know that if I did do home hemo, or better yet slow nocturnal, that I would be able to work during days. If I had a paycheck again could make the house a little bigger! FMC didn't work out for me, but a new center (owner?) will be coming to area in near future, and I'm holding out hope that they will offer a program suitable for me. Lin.
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Bill Peckham
Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 65
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 4:47 pm Post subject: Design for Home Hemo
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I installed a washer hook-up in my dialysis room. The Aksys uses hot and cold water but even if you were planning on using a standard machine/RO which needs just cold water (like the B Braun) I would still run hot water in, you never know what the future holds and you only want to drywall once.
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Home Ready
Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Posts: 4
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 5:27 am Post subject: dedicated hot water line?
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does the Aksys or
aun require a dedicated hot water line? I was just going to use hot water from bathroom or from a kitchenette. I don't think I have the extra cash flow to run plumbing all the way around to where I need to dialyze.
