Newburyport man first in the area to perform home hemodialysis

Eugene Tradd has spent the last year and a half traveling to a clinic a few times a week to undergo dialysis to survive until he can receive a kidney transplant. Recently, however, he found a way to do so without leaving the comfort of his own home. Tradd, a Newburyport resident, is the first in the area to receive training to perform hemodialysis without the assistance of an aide and without having to leave his apartment.

“It’s quite a breakthrough,” said Tradd, who has been undergoing dialysis three days a week for the last year and a half at Fresenius Kidney Care in the Towle Office Building at 260 Merrimac St.
“Typically, you need a support person there to assist every treatment,” he said, “and I’m the first person in the area, or many towns around, who has been trained to do it solo.”
At Fresenius, Tradd explained, “They started a home hemodialysis clinic with a couple of nurses on staff who are in the process of getting more patients so they can train them, too.”
Hemodialysis nurses go to school for at least a year or more, but Tradd underwent training to perform dialysis on himself in just six weeks.

“I had to get used to sticking myself with needles,” he said. “When I first started on all this, I couldn’t even watch the nurses put the needles in me because they are very large needles.
“You wouldn’t believe the size of these needles,” he added. “They’re almost like swizzle sticks.”
Tradd wasn’t sure he would be able to “overcome this obstacle,” but he did. “I’ve been doing it for a little over a month now and everything’s been going well.”--> READ MORE