Your Impact: New Dialysis Chairs Keeps Patients More Comfortable During Long Treatments
Published Monday, August 31, 2026
(L-R) Tracy Oleschuk, Registered Nurse, and Brittany Hrabok, Dialysis Aide, with one of two new dialysis chairs improving patient comfort and safety at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
If you've sat in one spot for a long time, you know how uncomfortable it can get. Dialysis is a treatment that requires sitting in one place for hours without getting up. As you can imagine, it's especially difficult for patients who have several chronic conditions, as many dialysis patients do.
Thanks to your donations to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, your support of Foundation events, and your Thunder Bay 50/50 ticket purchases, you helped purchase two new dialysis chairs to improve patient comfort!
The comfort level of chairs may not seem “medical”, but it makes a huge difference to the quality of care the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre's Renal Services can provide. People experiencing renal (kidney) failure need to have dialysis for three to four hours at a time to help clean their blood because their kidneys no longer can.
“It's important that we have high-quality dialysis chairs for many reasons,” said Allyson Hoard-Mann, Manager of the North West Regional Renal Program. “Patients come here three or four times per week for sessions that last three or four hours each. That's a long time to sit.”
The two new reclining chairs purchased with your help feature special padding and support to make sitting as comfortable as possible for those long treatments. A special foot rest pushes into the bottom of the feet when needed to relieve foot and leg cramping, which is a common side effect of dialysis. Some of the newer chairs also have a mini exercise bike attachment so patients can keep their legs moving if they want. The chairs are durable, which is important as well because they are used in the Hemodialysis Unit 16 hours per day, six days per week, from 7am to 11pm.
The chairs are also easier for staff to use, Hoard-Mann said. The ability to raise and lower the dialysis chair ensures that the patient's arm is at the optimal level for nurses to insert the fistula needles.
“Staff aren't all the same height, obviously,” Hoard-Mann said. “Being able to adjust the height of the chair makes needle insertions into fistulas (special vein access points for dialysis) much easier for nurses, which also contributes to patient comfort and safety.”
The new Triad chairs are the best on the market and made in Canada – an added bonus. Hoard-Mann said that Renal Services chose these chairs based on patient and staff feedback.
“Chairs in the past were not as comfortable, not as adjustable, which really affected patients. Chairs that are comfortable for patients and versatile for staff improve the care we can provide,” she said.
For the number of hours patients spend in the Hemodialysis Unit per week, it's almost a second home for them.
“We want to make them as comfortable as possible.”
Your support of the Health Sciences Foundation continues to make an impact on patient care and safety at our Hospital every day! Learn more about the patient care programs and services you help fund at:
healthsciencesfoundation.ca/news