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Increasingly, pediatric patients can receive care at home without coming to the hospital. However, families of children that need home dialysis require several weeks of training. UVA Children’s team members – led by the pediatric kidney care team – saw a need for a dedicated education space to ensure families could receive training to confidently care for their children.

With that in mind, the pediatric kidney care team has worked for several months to create a child-friendly education room, which recently opened in the Battle Building.

Hajra, a Pediatric Nephrology Clinic and dialysis patient, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease in April. Her family lives in Charlottesville, and her mom and dad, Hassan and Sadia Mohamed, work for the University of Virginia. Hajra and her family attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new patient education room, and Hajra even cut the ribbon herself.

“Hajra’s family does her dialysis every night at home,” says Mary Duffy, RN, Dialysis Nurse Coordinator. “They worked hard to learn it and deserve a great deal of recognition. English is not their first language, and it took a lot of work to learn how to do this.”

See reports from NBC 29 and and CBS 19 for footage of the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Aug. 20, and check out photos below.