Jack Higgins can’t wait until CentraCare Dialysis clinic starts seeing patients in Litchfield.

For nearly three years, the 82-year-old has traveled to Hutchinson three days a week for dialysis. Now, he can go right down the road, and he already has his chair measured out.

“I’m glad it fits,” Higgins said Tuesday at the Litchfield dialysis clinic’s open house.

Bringing dialysis care closer to the people who need it was the intent behind CentraCare’s decision to build a regional clinic in Litchfield, CentraCare representatives said.

The clinic is located at 520 Highway 12 E. in the Depot Crossing development.

“Because it’s local, our patients won’t have to go 30, 40 miles to another facility to get their dialysis,” said CentraCare patient care technician Theresa Shay.

The new 5,332-square-foot facility has been open since the beginning of the month but is treating only one patient as it waits for its Medicare number from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Cathy Sindelir, director of dialysis services at CentraCare, said the clinic has a dozen more patients registered to begin service.

Operated through the CentraCare Health System of St. Cloud, CentraCare Dialysis currently has eight other regional sites throughout Central Minnesota, offering chronic hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis services for patients experiencing kidney failure due to high blood pressure, diabetes or any other malfunction that can damage the kidneys.

Read the complete story in the June 19 Independent Review.