Hello. I am having a very difficult time finding a Certified Hemodialysis Technician for HOME Dialysis in Pleasanton California. Does anyone have a referral or suggestion ? I have already sought help from our current Nephrologist and Clinic to no avail. They supply the equipment and support, but NOT the technician. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.
Medicare doesn’t cover a care partner, although it is possible that long-term care or other insurance may. Because it’s not Medicare-covered, most people learn how to perform their own home HD. The NxStage HD machine is FDA-approved for a patient to do home HD alone (called “solo home HD”). Patients who can’t or don’t want to do solo dialysis usually ask one or more family or friends to train with them.
If you have no one who can help with HD as a volunteer and the nephrologist and dialysis clinic can’t help you find a certified HD technician to help, you could contact the National Association of Nephrology Technicians/Nephrologists (NANT). This organization has a career center (see tab in menu bar) where jobs and resumes can be posted.
https://www.dialysistech.net/
Here’s a website where you can put in your zip code to find the closest hemodialysis technician training school. You could ask if they would share information about your part-time job opportunity with their graduates.
A home health agency may have staff who might be willing to be trained to do dialysis. You can find home health agencies near you on the Medicare website. You can enter your zip code to find a home health agency in your area.
If you find a certified patient care technician to be your home HD care partner, regulations for dialysis require the dialysis clinic to test that person knows how to do HD and knows and will follow the clinic’s policies and procedures.
In case you’re interested, there is a Home Dialysis Central Facebook group that is members-only and you must answer a handful of questions to be admitted. The group has over 8,000 members many of whom are on home HD. The group also includes dialysis professionals. You can find the group on Facebook under groups. Look for Home Dialysis Central.