WINONA, Minn. – Donors have come forward to subsidize the Winona Heath kidney dialysis program that was scheduled for shutdown. Rachelle Schultz, the hospital’s chief executive, called it an “amazing gift.” Costs of running the dialysis unit were outstripping revenue by $1 million a year. This was from the hospital and clinic’s $113 million budget that was running a $2.5 million deficit. Schultz didn’t disclose the amount of the donation nor the names of the donors but said it was “in the spirit of the Ben and Rudy Miller families to maintain health care in our community.” The Millers, whose Winona fortune came from Fiberite resin engineering, have been instrumental in community philanthropy. The donation followed a blockbuster 1,600-word article by Chris Rogers, editor of the Winona Post, on how Winona kidney patients relied on the dialysis unit.
When kidneys fail. Patents sit for three hours thrice weekly for all their toxin-laden blood — every last drop — to be drawn into a filtering hemodialysis machine. Once filtered, the blood is cycled to the body. The machine is an artificial kidney so speak. The alternative: Dying.