This podcast includes an interview with Suzanne Watnick, MD, FASN. Dr. Watnick is the Chief Medical Officer at Northwest Kidney Centers in Washington state and Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. She discusses the steps her organization took to protect kidney patients and health care workers once the Coronavirus hit her state.
This podcast includes an interview with Suzanne Watnick, MD, FASN. Dr. Watnick is the Chief Medical Officer at Northwest Kidney Centers in Washington state and Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. She discusses the steps her organization took to protect kidney patients and health care workers once the Coronavirus hit her state.
Dr. Watnick describes three guiding principles her organization established that have “carried them through from the beginning of the pandemic and will hopefully continue into the future:
- Knowing we have an obligation to provide dialysis to our patients if they arrive at our outpatient setting,
- Leaning into the science to try to understand what the virus is, how it is transmitted, and to protect our patients and staff as best we could,
- Providing leadership through deep communication with our staff members and patients, as well as education, transparency, and support to our community.”
“There was a lot of interaction with other groups who were just beginning to see what we had seen during the first phase, a lot of contact within the kidney community, which was really heartwarming to see, because no matter who you are, what geographic area you are as a dialysis organization, the patients don’t know what kind of dialysis organization they’re coming to, it’s all a big community and we want to work together to make sure we’re there for the patients first and foremost to keep dialysis safe and effective for them, and to support staff too,” said Dr. Watnick.
Please listen to this enlightening interview.
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