As a softball fanatic, when Lisa Chapman heard her company was looking for a way to raise money for patients, one idea jumped to the forefront.

A softball tournament, with 24 team slots available, will be Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23 and 24, at the Conrad Complex in Kalispell to raise money for the Dialysis Clinic’s Patient Fund.

Robert Gordon, the Kalispell clinic’s social worker, went over just how important that fund was to patients suffering from kidney disease.

“Travel costs and staying out of the area for treatment falls on patients and families,” he said. “That’s one reason we instituted the kidney fund. We have such a big geographic region and some people have to drive here three, four or five times a week.”

The fund pays for nontreatment costs for patients and families. Gordon distributes the money to the families in need.

The Dialysis Clinic Inc., a national nonprofit, performs dialysis when the kidneys begin to fail. The company is based in Nashville but the Kalispell location serves patients in area stretching as far away as Pablo, Eureka and Libby. 

Since Glacier National Park is such a tourist destination, many vacationers will get treatment while in the area.

According to Chapman, that draw, along with the softball tournament, should bring in a significant amount of money for the fund. She has plenty of experience not only on the diamond but in the planning stages.

“I’ve been exposed to softball since I could walk,” she said. “I’ve played, umped and coached for 30 years. I helped my folks run a softball tournament for 15 years, so this comes easily to me.”

Five teams have already paid the $150 fee — “the cheapest they’ll see all year,” Chapman said — but with 19 more slots to fill, the clinic eagerly looks forward to see which teams will compete.

“We forwarded some of our fliers down to Anaconda to a man named Bill Hill, who runs a huge tournament down there,” she said. “He sent that information to all of his teams, so we are hoping to get some of them down here.”

The money raised will go to a good cause, Gordon said. 

“We form a unique relationship with the patients here,” he said. “It’s pretty long term. One woman came to us for 20 years.”

There are three reasons a patient stops coming to the dialysis clinic: a kidney transplant, a transfer to a different clinic or death. Kidneys don’t automatically heal themselves, so typically dialysis is for life.

Because the Kalispell facility covers such a large geographic location, Gordon said he encourages patients to use home dialysis modalities. By undergoing dialysis at home, it saves the patient the stress and cost of driving to the clinic two or three times a week.

Currently, the clinic has 74 “in center” hemodialysis patients and 21 peritoneal dialysis patients along with five home hemodialysis patients. Hemodialysis is the removal of waste from the bloodstream. Peritoneal dialysis is for much more severe kidney disease, and it exchanges fluids directly through the abdomen.

Libby has another 12 patients undergoing dialysis. 

This is an expensive process, so the patient fund is vital to helping patients live a healthy life. 

The tournament itself is costly, Chapman said, with more than $2,100 in overhead, so the generous support of local businesses will help stave off those costs. 

Men’s and co-rec brackets will be set up over the two-day event. Cost is $150 per team.

Money is due by Thursday. Call Chapman at 756-5565 for more information.

Checks may be sent to:

DCI

ATTN Patient Fund

Softball Tourney

135 Commons Way

Kalispell, MT 59901