When people need lifesaving dialysis because of kidney failure, it is always considered their number-one medical priority. For patients of the Toronto Rehab and University Health Network Dialysis Service, dialysis is also a means to another end: rehabilitation and better quality of life. “We’re trying to maximize the effects of rehabilitation knowing that these patients can’t survive without dialysis,” explains Dr. Vanita Jassal, a nephrologist and Medical Director of the Dialysis Service. The service, operated by University Health Network dialysis experts and located at Toronto Rehab’s University Centre, includes six machines that provide hemodialysis for up to 12 patients admitted to Toronto Rehab’s Geriatric Rehabilitation Program and 12 patients from the hospital’s Complex Continuing Care Program. The dialysis population is growing by 10 per cent a year due to the aging of the population, and because health care and dialysis care continue to improve. “The other population we’re seeing more of is diabetics,” says Dr. Jassal. “Diabetes is one of the major causes of renal disease, particularly among older people.”