The Renal and Pancreas Transplant Program at Saint Barnabas Medical Center is opening a satellite office in Rutherford, N.J., to make kidney transplantation more accessible to those living in Bergen County and the surrounding areas. The office will be located at the Malo Clinic Health and Wellness, 201 Route 17N., Rutherford, N.J.
“Unfortunately, traveling an extended distance is an obstacle for some patients,” points out Shamkant Mulgaonkar, MD, Chief of the Barnabas Health Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division. “Opening this satellite was a response to multiple requests by nephrologists and dialysis centers throughout Bergen County.”
As one of the country’s largest kidney transplant programs, Saint Barnabas will bring its successful education and evaluation programs to patients visiting the Malo Clinic Satellite. “Patients can meet with the same experienced physicians and staff members that they would meet if they traveled to our facility in Livingston,” notes Dr. Mulgaonkar.
A transplant physician, social worker and transplant coordinator will provide a complete educational session and begin the medical evaluation process during the patient’s first visit. If further medical testing is required, those procedures can be performed at the local physician’s office or hospital. “We recommend that patients visit our comprehensive transplant center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center at their convenience, but they could actually complete the entire pre-transplant process through the Rutherford Satellite without having to travel until the day of surgery,” notes Dr. Mulgaonkar.
Saint Barnabas staff at the satellite office also offers education about living donation for anyone who is considering this option. For further information and directions, please call 1-888-409-4707, or visit www.kidneytransplant.org.
The world-class Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division, with programs at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark N.J., is one of the world's most progressive transplant programs and one of the largest programs among 240 in the United States. In 2011, the Division performed 295 kidney transplants which included 137 living donor transplants with outcomes that exceed the national average. Barnabas Health’s Living Donor Institute is helping make transplant an option for more patients by offering innovative transplant options including the Program for Incompatible Transplants, the Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program, Altruistic Living Donation and Living- and Emotionally-Related Donor Transplantation.
