Marcos Rothstein, MD, Gladys Fisher, Benjamin Humphreys MD, PhD
Gladys Fisher was first exposed to dialysis when her mother developed acute kidney failure. At the time, the dialysis unit at Roosevelt Hospital, Guatemala’s largest public hospital, relied on outdated dialysis machines from the early 1970’s and cleanliness and sterile procedures were not optimal. As a result, she became a dialysis technician in order to care for her mother. She then took it upon herself to improve the unit, and within a year had secured private financing to renovate the unit, procure new dialysis machines and a new water treatment machine. Her mother ultimately came off of dialysis and Gladys now manages the unit as a volunteer.
She is visiting the division in order to learn about outpatient dialysis because her next goal is to open an outpatient unit near Roosevelt Hospital. She is also observing intensive care dialysis techniques here in order improve services in Guatemala. We are happy to host Gladys during her time here.