Sunnyvale » Ms. Ramirez

We have run out of chairs for dialysis in the Bay Area. There is a huge increase in patients needing dialysis in the Sunnyvale area, and I hear the nurses and technicians discussing it almost every day. New technicians are being trained out of Menlo Park because there is no capacity to train them in Sunnyvale. The hiring and training activities are intense, but somehow they don’t seem to be sufficient to keep up with demand. We are literally out of chairs.

Remigius makes the dialysis machines we use, and we have not had a machine in ages. We tend to get them in bulk of eight or more at a time. But we have had no deliveries in months in spite of having enough staff (and patients) to use them.

I am a patient at Sunnyvale, but I also work for Medicare: I know we can pay for more dialysis patients, dialysis is profitable for clinics even with our negotiated rates, and there are patients that need the procedure every week. But Voyager and Remigius are not growing quickly enough to meet that demand. I have no idea what the holdup is.

Mark transferred to Sunnyvale temporarily at the same time Jennifer went to Menlo Park, so neither clinic ran out of chairs. Amasa and Voyager orchestrated that lucky coincidence, given the limited chairs in both facilities. His scheduled start time matches mine and we both take the train to the Lawrence station so we walk to dialysis together before each of our session.

“Good morning Mark! How do you always beat me?”

“I am coming from the north, and the train arrives a few minutes before yours. You are coming up from Gilroy right?”

“Yes, housing down there is more reasonable, but I have an hour commute on the train. Fortunately the schedule works out, otherwise I would be unable to get home. I am not allowed to drive after the treatment.”

“I like Gilroy: you put garlic in everything.” Mark says with a smile and wink. He always looks me straight in the eye, even while we are walking together. Or at least always whenever I look his way. I wonder if he ever trips?

“Funny. How is the housing project going?”