Photo by Deb Gau Lillian Onyeaghala, dialysis manager at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center, demonstrated some of the features of the chairs for the hospital’s new dialysis center. Patients with kidney disease sit in the chairs while their blood is filtered by specialized equipment.

MARSHALL — The ongoing construction at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center hasn’t just focused on the emergency department. This weekend, Avera Marshall will be working to put the finishing touches on a new dialysis center at the hospital.

The Avera Marshall dialysis center is planned to open in June. A public open house will be held Monday.

Having a dialysis center at the hospital campus expands the range of care Avera Marshall is able to offer, hospital staff said Friday.

“Dialysis is just doing what the kidney does, to clean the blood,” explained Lillian Onyeaghala, dialysis manager at Avera Marshall. The kidneys filter waste products and excess water out of the body and into urine. If a person’s kidneys aren’t working, dialysis is a vital medical service.

As populations in the hospital’s service region age, health care providers see more people with chronic conditions like kidney disease, said Dodie Derynck, vice president of clinical operations.

“Dialysis is life-sustaining care for people with end-stage kidney disease,” said Mary Maertens, regional president and CEO of Avera Marshall. “Adding this service will allow us to more fully meet the needs of our patients who look to us for their care.”

The new dialysis center was built in an area of the hospital campus that used to be leased out to DaVita Kidney Care, Derynck said. DaVita moved into its current dialysis center in the Market Street Mall in 2016. After that, Avera Marshall began the design process for its own dialysis center on campus, Derynck said.

Building the dialysis center has been a complex process, said Avera Marshall facilities director Kevin Schroeder. The dialysis equipment uses reverse-osmosis water systems, and there was a lot of work that had to be done to update the plumbing for the dialysis center.

“Everything goes through filtration,” Onyeaghala said of the water systems at the dialysis center. When the center is up and running, the water will be tested every three hours.

The dialysis center will be open three days a week. Staff will include two registered nurses, two technicians, and Onyeaghala, she said. Dialysis center staff will also be working with a dietitian and a social worker, to provide additional services for patients.

Derynck said the Marshall dialysis center was designed to be similar to other centers in the Avera health system. The center will have six patient stations, with one station in its own room. The dialysis chairs at each station are pretty high-tech, with features like heated seats and personal television screens. However, those features are meant to help patients be more comfortable, Onyeaghala said. Dialysis can take up to three or four hours, she said, and heating is important because patients can feel cold while they’re having their blood filtered.

Having the dialysis center will be more convenient for patients in Avera Marshall’s service area, Onyeaghala said.

“One good thing is having same-day lab results,” she said. The benefits of having a dialysis center at the hospital will also include having support from kidney specialists at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.

A public open house for the dialysis center will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Monday. Onyeaghala said a second open house for prospective patients will also be held Thursday.

Preparations to open the dialysis center will continue through the rest of May, Schroeder said.

“There’s a lot of quality testing” to do before the center can start serving patients, he said.