Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY- Dr. William “Bill” Flattery, Vice President of Carilion Clinic’s Western Region, addressed the Board of Supervisors Monday about a proposed kidney transplant service that Montgomery County currently does not have.
According to Flattery, Carilion Clinic is applying to Virginia for a kidney transplant service. There is currently no local kidney transplant program for residents in terms of ease of accessibility. According to John Hopkins Medicine, the purpose of a kidney transplant is to take a viable kidney from either a living or deceased donor and transplant it into a recipient who needs a healthier, viable organ.
“According to the CDC,” Flattery explained, “one in seven Americans is living with chronic kidney disease and it’s the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, kidney disease. And right now, there are 2,300 people in the Commonwealth of Virginia on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. Locally we have many many, many patients that need the service that can’t afford to drive at least two hours away to the closest transplant center, so because the best healthcare is local healthcare, Carilion is applying to the Commonwealth for that certificate of public need in order to achieve that. We need to demonstrate public support and I’m here to ask for that public support from you all in the form of a resolution.”
Flattery explained the proposed kidney transplant service would be in Roanoke, at Roanoke Memorial, for the operations, but the patients would be seen and have consultations locally in Blacksburg. The surgeons from Roanoke would actually come down and see patients locally so they would not need to make the drive to Roanoke until the time of their operation. The Board of Supervisors gave Flattery a consensus and will be adding a resolution to the agenda of the next meeting.
“To think,” Board Chair Mary Biggs said, “what we’ve gone from in the 1960s to where we are now, to be able to provide that and have it to be local, I think would be a great service.”
