Eastport kidney dialysis center delayed by search for building

EASTPORT – A federal glitch has delayed the opening of an eight-station kidney dialysis center and forced a medical services company to search elsewhere for a facility to house the unit.

Nearly a year ago, Fresenius Medical Care North America of Lexington, Mass., announced that it would open the facility within a year in the former Gates Fiber Extrusion office building on Route 190.

A grand opening had been scheduled for July.

The original plan called for renovation of the office building, which is owned by the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

Eastport City Manager George “Bud” Finch said Monday that language in a loan agreement between the tribe and the federal government states that the facility can be used only for educational and training purposes.

Although the state’s congressional delegation tried to exert pressure on behalf of the dialysis firm, the Commerce Department agency would not back down. “These are basic, cast-in-concrete, hard rules,” Finch said.

So now, the city manager said, the company is reviewing its backup plan.

“We are looking at three alternate sites right now,” Finch said. “These were sites that were looked at initially.”

Although area residents have expressed concern that the company might not locate a facility in the city, Finch said the company assured him it planned to open a center in Eastport.

“This is a roadblock, but they still are coming,” Finch said. “Everything is done and ready to go, so even if they choose a lot site and build, it shouldn’t be any more from three to five months’ delay.”

Once the center is running, patients will no longer have to make the trek to Bangor or Ellsworth several times a week to undergo dialysis treatments.

Last year, state officials approved a certificate of need that would allow the company to build the $455,800 facility.

Fresenius is one of the largest providers of private dialysis clinics and a producer of dialysis products. It operates 1,000 clinics nationally.

The dialysis facility is expected to serve 20 patients during the first year.

In the past 10 years, according to the Fresenius Web site, the number of U.S. dialysis patients has increased from 100,000 to more than 250,000, with a growth rate of 7 percent a year.