Our History

Northwest Kidney Centers was established in 1962 as the world’s first outpatient dialysis treatment center. We are grateful to have been a vital part of the health of the Puget Sound region for more than 40 years.

1960
Chronic kidney failure was once a fatal disease. Dr. Belding Scribner of the University of Washington (UW) developed the Scribner shunt, tubes which made long-term maintenance dialysis possible for the first time. Dr. Scribner turned to the King County Medical Society for sponsorship of a community supported outpatient dialysis center.

1962

Dr. James Haviland, then president of the Society, worked tirelessly. As a result, the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center (SAKC) was established in January 1962. Eventually renamed Northwest Kidney Centers, it was the world’s first out-of-hospital outpatient dialysis treatment center.

1963

The Seattle Area Hospital Council joined in creating the center. Funding support came from a variety of sources, primarily the John A. Hartford Foundation and the U. S. Public Health Service.
Originally located in the basement of Eklind Hall, then the nurses’ residence for Swedish Hospital, the center was comprised of three beds. Nine patients could be dialyzed in shifts.
In these early years, funding for dialysis was extremely limited. Rigid patient selection was needed for the few available places in the program. A committee of physicians screened potential patients first by strict medical criteria. Medically suitable candidates were then further reviewed by an anonymous lay committee which decided who would get treatment. This difficult decision was based on medical and financial criteria, the perceived ability to adjust to dialysis, family status and the patient’s potential contribution to or burden on society. This committee was active until 1971. At this point, all patients referred by their doctors could be treated. The center was supported by insurance programs as well as the State of Washington.

1964
In 1964, the center expanded to 10 stations serving 47 patients. This growth led to financial strain. At this time, Dr. Scribner and his team at the UW developed home hemodialysis, a program for which opened at SAKC in 1967.

1970

Further pioneering research by Dr. Henry Tenckhoff and Dr. Fred Boen resulted in peritoneal dialysis being offered at SAKC in 1970. This treatment did not use an artificial kidney. Since patients now traveled from all parts of Washington and from as far away as Alaska, the center’s name was changed to the Northwest Kidney Center (NKC).

1971
Federal funds become available to develop programs to retrieve and distribute organs for transplantation. NKC sets up the Northwest organ Procurement agency to serve Western Washington, Alaska and Montana. This was one of the first regional organizations in the country. The program provided kidneys to transplant programs at the UW Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, Virginia Mason Hospital and Children’s Hospital.

1973
In 1973, Medicare made financial support available to almost all patients with end stage renal disease. With this additional support, as well as Medicaid, the State kidney Disease Program and private insurance, the center became financially stable. With that stability came changes.

1982
In November 1982, NKC consolidated services at 700 Broadway, now called the Haviland Kidney Center. Over the next 21 years, eleven additional units were acquired or opened throughout King and Clallam Counties. These are Auburn Kidney Center, Cascade Kidney Center, Elliot Bay Kidney Center, Lake City Kidney Center, Lake Washington Kidney Center, Mount Rainier Kidney Center, Port Angeles Kidney Center, Scribner Kidney Center, Snoqualmie Ridge Kidney center, Totem Lake Kidney Center and the West Seattle Kidney Center.

In addition to the centers, a program to provide acute dialysis and related therapies in many Seattle hospitals is headquartered in the Haviland Kidney Center.


1988
NKC, the Puget Sound Blood Center and the UW Department of Orthopedics jointly founded the Northwest Tissue center in 1988. Housed at the Blood Center, the tissue center provides human bone, tendons, skin and other tissues for transplantation.

1989
NKC was chosen to be the first site for human studies on erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone genetically engineered by Amgen, Inc. EPO is produced in healthy kidneys to stimulate red blood cell production. Most dialysis patients are anemic because their diseased kidneys provide very little EPO. Injections of EPO treat this anemia and improve patient well being and quality of life. Federal Food and Drug Administration approval was granted in June of 1989. 


Northwest Kidney Centers continues to provide life giving help to patients with kidney disease. With twelve centers, programs in major regional hospitals and a dedicated and enthusiastic staff, the future looks bright. The Haviland Center at 700 Broadway houses a Special Care Unit, a Progressive Care Unit and the Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis services. Administrative services are located in Lake Forest Park, along with the Lake City Kidney Center.

The other community based centers are the Lake Washington Kidney Center in Bellevue, opened in 1981; north Seattle’s Scribner Kidney Center, developed from the UW’s coach house dialysis research facility and acquired in 1983; the Mount Rainier Kidney Center in Renton, acquired in 1986; the Cascade Kidney Center in southwest King County, opened in 1988; the Auburn Kidney Center, opened in 1997; the West Seattle Kidney Center, opened in 1998; the Port Angeles Kidney Center, opened in May of 2000; the Lake City Kidney Center, opened in 2002 and Snoqualmie Ridge Kidney Center opened in January of 2003.