Monash Health in the Media: Big Red Kidney Bus joins patients on summer holiday

The Monash Health Big Red Kidney Bus has parked itself at Wonthaggi Hospital, giving dialysis patients the opportunity to enjoy a summer holiday. 

Renal patients are often limited by a strict dialysis schedule and busy dialysis units across Victoria and Australia. Patients need to be hooked to the dialysis machine three times a week for five hours each day, making the opportunity to holiday somewhere new or visit family and friends challenging. 

As reported by the Sentinel-Times, the Big Red Kidney Bus is changing that by giving patients a chance to visit and discover destinations across Victoria. Run by Monash Health in partnership with Kidney Health Australia, the bus offers schedules of destinations a year in advance allowing patients to plan their holidays. After each stay, the Kidney Bus team also consult patients on future destinations they would like to visit. 

“Opportunities for dialysis in holiday locations are very limited, so the bus offers an escape from the patient’s usual schedule.” Says Head of Nephrology at Monash Health, Professor Peter Kerr. 

Patient John Gahan has taken up the opportunity to visit from the town of Beulah in the southern Mallee region of Victoria. He and his wife are enjoying their month break in Wonthaggi, Phillip Island and Inverloch. 

We hope all our patients who visited the bus had a lovely holiday. Thank you to our Big Red Kidney Bus team for making this possible!