In the context of the World Day of suicide prevention, marked annually on  September 10, the Chisinau Dialysis Centre kicked off a series of information events focused on raising awareness about the prevention of this phenomenon, especially among patients.

Persons dependent on dialysis pass through some experiences unknown to other groups of patients, since their life depends on devices replacing the renal function. The presence of a psychologist in the Dialysis Centre is dictated by the need to help the patients go more easily through anxiety and stress.

The psychological aspect of dialysis patients’ management is extremely important for optimizing the operation of dialysis centers.  The inclusion of a patient in dialysis is associated with significant change in his/her way of life, at least at the initial stage. The psychological aspect is even more important for the Dialysis Centers due to a large share of new clients, 30%.  It has always been and remains very important to establish good relationship between patients, as well as between patients and the medical personnel, coming from different dialysis centers and those involved in dialysis activities for the first time. The activity of psychologist and medical staff was assessed by patients through an anonymous survey, performed in July 2016 regarding the quality of services. Patients on dialysis appreciated medical services provided by Dialysis Center in the average by 9.34 points out of 10, the non-medical services by 9.1 points and the  staff attitude by 9.73 points”, said Mr. Petru Cepoida, medical director of the Dialysis Center.

Patients diagnosed with kidney disease in terminal stage, in addition to the diagnosis that tie their lives to the dialysis devices, have to face many other barriers: acceptance of pathology, adapting to a new lifestyle connected to dialysis, to stress and anxiety, caused by the loss of employment or family, rejection or isolation from friends and relatives, as renal failure involves several restrictions, including meals regime.  Rarely met in other medical institutions, the presence of a psychologist in Dialysis Center is essential to help patients strive for life and live qualitatively, even if they are dependent on dialysis.

Dialysis is vital for people diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, it involves a lifelong dependency, which without psychological support both from medical specialists and family is accepted with   difficulty by the patient. Sometimes it can generate some tragic actions.  The psychologist works with every patient separately and can intervene at several levels: education and counseling, assessment and management of psycho-behavioral changes, periodic evaluation of the quality of life, so that the patients finally  realize that they are not victims of a relentless disease and they really struggle for a better life”, said Mrs. Diana Ştrirbu, psychologist of Chisinau Dialysis Center.

The organizers of the event chose an innovative way to raise awareness regarding “life love”.  The confessions of patients in dialysis proved to be the best examples of how to overcome the difficulties and become a winner, especially since diagnosis of these people requires a real struggle for life.

The event was held in Chisinau Dialysis Center opened in Public Private Partnership project for dialysis services in Moldova.

“There are eight months from the opening of the Center of Excellence, but we have already managed to organize many different public information events. Today, we have chosen to discuss a more delicate and extremely important topic, especially for dialysis-dependent patients. Psychological counseling from which all patients of the center are benefiting often replicates the quality of treatment. Our mission that we have assumed in this project is to ensure a better life quality of patients dependent on dialysis and organizing information events is an item from the list of tasks that we have to do to achieve this goal” said Mr. Dmitri Onufreiciuc, manager of “BB-dialysis” company.

Since the beginning of the year the Dialysis Center performed nearly 17,000 dialyses and served 300 patients, including 12 patients from abroad, who have benefited from the service “Vacation dialysis”. At present, the Dialysis Center serves half of dialysis patients in Moldova.  The capacity of the Center is more than 300 patients, but there is the possibility of expanding up to 440 patients, which places the Center as one of the largest dialysis units in Europe.  The quality of services provided in Moldova is almost the same as of other European Dialysis Centers. The new equipment of last generation, exhaustive technical equipment, qualitative consumables, all necessary medication, comfort at the highest is complemented by the professional approach of the medical staff.  For the implementation of the project at national level and provision of high quality services to all dialysis patients with terminal renal insufficiency, the  German consortium, represented in Moldova by BB-dialysis company,  will have to invest 15 ml. Euro.