Home dialysis support for adults
Bringing practical support to people starting peritoneal dialysis in NSW with the Norm Bourke Bag and Allawah House.
The Norm Bourke Bag
When Nicki started home peritoneal dialysis in 2014 she realized she needed to purchase about $250 worth of essential supplies to safely do dialysis at home. It took time, money and trial and error to find the right scales, blood pressure machine and hygiene products. A few years later Nicki started talking to patients and nurses about what would be most helpful when starting home dialysis, and slowly started the Norm Bourke Bag. So other patients don't have to go looking for supplies when they are already going through a life change.
The bag is named after our friend Norm Bourke, who was a long-time member and supporter of the Armidale (rural NSW) Kidney community. Norm was on Peritoneal Dialysis when he was first diagnosed with kidney failure.
In the bag there is:
- Blood Pressure Machine - Value $140
- Set of Scales - Value $40
- 2x QV Gentle Wash 1lt - Value $60
Currently, we supply bags to all NSW hospitals, who distribute them to patients when they are doing training for peritoneal dialysis at home.
Karrin's Experience
Receiving the Norm Burke Box from the Rural Kidney Association came at a difficult and overwhelming time in my life and made a meaningful difference to my journey with CKD. I was facing another enormous change, learning the skills and procedures needed to manage my treatment, trying to organising my home to become my own dialysis unit and preparing myself and my children for multiple peritoneal dialysis exchanges everyday for the foreseeable future. I was deeply grateful for the associations kindness and support.
As a single mum with teenage children the initial set up costs of supplies was a significant burden on an already stretched budget. The blood pressure machine and the digital weighing scales were expensive to purchase but essential to my care. The Norm Bourke Box provided these items along with important hygiene products and cleaning supplies easing the financial pressure I was already calculating in my mind and genuinely concerned about.
The gift gave me a wonderful sense of community. Knowing that the Rural Kidney Association was founded by people with lived experience - people who understood chronic kidney disease and what I was about to face - made the support feel personal. It reminded me that I was not alone in my fight for my health and wellbeing.
I am incredibly grateful to the Rural Kidney Association and those whose generosity to this cause makes the Norm Bourke Box possible. Their support reduced the financial, physical and mental burden of starting peritoneal dialysis at home and helped make an overwhelming transition a little easier for my family and I.
- Karrin Clark
Allawah House, Tamworth base hospital
With the staff at Tamworth Renal services, we opened a self-contained 1 Bedroom onsite accommodation for patients and their families who need to be in Tamworth to stay for surgeries or home dialysis training. All patients that stay here are bulk billed through IPT AAS and have no out-of-pocket charges.
We are a registered charity
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