Terrace Health and Rehabilitation Center celebrated the opening of its new dialysis suite on Wednesday.  

“We want to ascend to a new level,” Executive Director Barry Audain said in an interview. “We don’t want to just be going through the motions here. We want people to know that this is a destination not only for staff, but also for residents and family members to find trust and value in what we do here on a day-to-day basis.” 

Audain said the dialysis suite, which has been in the works for about a year, is a “step in the right direction” in Terrace’s mission to satisfy every one of the community’s needs. 

Millennial Healthcare took on Terrace Health and Rehabilitation Center three years ago, and the center has been going through rebranding since then. In addition to adopting the color green, this means expanding the center’s care. 

Terrace already offers inpatient and outpatient comprehensive rehabilitation services, but Audain said there is more to come, including a cardiology program and partnerships with local hospitals to fill their needs in discharge planning. 

“This outcome is just incredible,” Millenial CEO Rob Manela said in a speech. “I am super excited for what we have… to offer.” 

Manela said skilled nursing units – to which hospital patients are often sent after they are discharged – are turning into mini-hospitals, and Terrace needs to be adaptive and creative to keep supporting the community and its hospitals. 

Mary Lassiter, Dialyze Direct’s care coordinator for the area, said the facility is open and welcoming, and should be a smoother process for Terrace patients than an outpatient facility. 

Terrace’s facility will require dialysis five times a week, instead of an outpatient facility’s typical three times, but Lassiter said the sessions will be two hours and 50 minutes long, instead of four or five hours. She said this method puts less strain on the patients’ hearts, and patients usually recover within an hour, while longer dialysis sessions can leave them exhausted for the day. 

Lassiter also noted that patients will not have to travel through Florida’s heat, or miss meals to make their appointments, as they often do with outpatient care. 

“I think their quality of life is better, ultimately,” Lassiter said. “It’s just not so interrupted, and it’s just easier on them.”