For more than a decade, the Big Red Kidney Bus has provided life-changing mobile dialysis treatment for those suffering from kidney disease or failure. Kidney Health Australia is now continuing to expand its bus fleet into more Australian states.
For tens of thousands of Australians, poor kidney health is preventing them from revelling in the joys of travelling.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says that in 2020, 14,600 people with kidney failure received dialysis.
Since 2011, Kidney Health Australia has been actively trying to make it possible to bring dialysis treatment closer to where it’s needed, rather than the alternative of constant trips to the nearest hospital. To do so, it had to turn to buses.
“Back in 2011, there was a group of patients who formed a fundraising group for dialysis treatment,” Kidney Health Australia CEO Chris Forbes told ABC. “They needed a bus to get the idea off the ground. The first bus was refurbished and launched in Victoria.”
This inaugural vehicle would become the first Big Red Kidney Bus.
For more than a decade, the bright red bus has travelled around Victoria, stopping in regional and coastal spots to provide dialysis treatment for holiday-goers living with kidney failure.
The bus immediately became a hit. The service allows people requiring dialysis three days a week for five hours at a time to receive the vital treatment while on holiday. It gives them a much-needed break from the too-familiar walls of their hospital.
Finding and refurbishing a bus that could perform this intricate medical task wasn’t easy for Kidney Health Australia. Forbes says the group had to forge partnerships over various industries to get the first vehicle on the road.
“We first of all had to find bus companies to be able to purchase and refurbish a bus,” Forbes says. “We were lucky enough to receive help from Busfurb, Volgren and Royans Brisbane to undertake the refurbishments of all our buses.”
RELATED ARTICLE: Souths and Transdev partner for community
The main challenge in starting the Big Red Kidney Bus was finding buses or coaches that conformed to specifications and allowed for dialysis to be performed onboard.
“It’s difficult to find a vehicle that you can strip back and rebuild so that it’s suitable for patients to undergo dialysis in a chair,” Forbes says. “The refurbishment can take six months or more to do. It’s not just about the mechanical fit-out, it’s about making sure we work with health providers so that the bus satisfies requirements in a partnership approach.”
Yet it’s all been worthwhile. Forbes says there is now a second Big Red Kidney Bus running in New South Wales to partner the first Victorian vehicle. Kidney Health Australia is also looking at running a pilot program in Queensland to provide holiday dialysis treatment for patients wanting to visit places all along the eastern seaboard.
The bus was originally designed with the purpose to allow people living with kidney disease to travel while still receiving dialysis. Forbes says the two-bus fleet of Big Red Kidney Bus vehicles is changing lives.
“It has a significant impact on immediate family and friends who couldn’t go on holiday originally,” Forbes says. “These buses allow people to plan in advance and work with their renal unit so that they can go away and have a holiday with family and friends.”
Forbes plans to expand the Big Red Kidney Bus network further.
After launching a refurbished NSW bus three months ago, he’s looking to get donors and partners onboard to cover more than half a million dollars’ worth of money to purchase and refurbish a third bus for Queensland.
“Kidney disease and failure is a growing problem and the buses form a really vital program for those suffering,” Forbes says.
“If you have risk factors of high blood pressure or diabetes, please ask your GP for a kidney health check. We encourage people to have a kidney health check as part of their normal health care.
“All we want is people to get in front of it early and slow progression so that there’s less kidney failure.”