Dialysis Museum

ºÚÁϺÚÀúʷ’ Dialysis Museum is now open in its new location at our Burien facility. The museum displays the history of dialysis therapy, showcasing iconic photos and artifacts as well as dialysis machines and equipment used in the evolution of this life-sustaining therapy.

A look back to the early days

At ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ·, we are proud of our heritage as the first organization in the world founded with dialysis as its mission. The museum is home to more than a dozen dialysis machines and a gallery of photos of people who have influenced kidney care.

The dialysis museum shows the growth of our organization, and the strong roots of kidney therapy in Seattle. We started in 1962 with one facility with three beds. Today, about 400,000 people are on dialysis in the United States alone.

Where it all began

It was 1960 when Dr. Belding Scribner and his colleagues at University of Washington developed the Scribner shunt, a device made of Teflon that could link an artery and a vein. This relatively simple device was revolutionary— it made long-term dialysis possible for the first time. Chronic kidney failure was no longer a death sentence. Two years later, ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· was founded to bring the new treatment to patients in the community.

Read more about our storied history, or take a stroll through the dialysis museum yourself. There you’ll find many of the machines that made medical history.

 

Featured items

In the 1960s, dialysis meant a machine the size of a small refrigerator. In fact, Seattle’s first machines were built by a manufacturer of ice cream machines! Today, the smallest dialysis machine is about the size of a toaster oven.

More than a dozen machines are on display in the museum. The Mini Monster, for example, was created in 1964 at the University of Washington for the world’s first home dialysis patient. It became the prototype for nearly all single-patient hemodialysis machines in use today.

The Kidney Care Heroes wall highlights some of the many people who have made an impact to kidney care.

Machines, photos and patient stories help tell the history of life-sustaining treatments in dialysis centers as well as home dialysis, a therapy that often leads to better outcomes for people with kidney failure.

 

An oral history of ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ·

ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· simply wouldn’t be where it is today without the incredible community of dedicated staff, volunteers, medical professionals and financial supporters who have worked hard to carry out its mission. For our 55th anniversary year, we began gathering oral histories from people who worked for and with ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· over the years.

Then and now: technology through the years

Here’s a closer look at some of the iconic machines in our dialysis museum.

  • Kolff-Brigham rotating drum kidney. Created in 1948 by Dr. Willem “Pim” Kolff, this was the world’s first practical dialysis machine. Using filters made of sausage casings, it provided dialysis for people with acute kidney failure, but there still was no treatment for chronic kidney failure. The Scribner shunt changed that in 1960.

  • Mini-I and Mini-II. Early machines to mix dialysate were so large one 1963 version earned the nickname Monster. The Mini-I was based on the Monster. It made dialysis solution by mixing a liquid concentrate with water, using highly accurate proportioning pumps. After mixing and testing, the dialysis solution was pumped to each patient’s bedside in the treatment room. A few months after the Mini-I came the Mini-II, a refined version, designed by four innovators on an airplane ride to a medical conference. It became the first commercial home dialysis machine.

  • Drake-Willock dialysis machine. Nephrologist Dr. Richard Drake and design engineer Charles Bernard Willock made this machine in the basement of Willock’s Oregon home in the mid-1960s.

  • Suitcase kidney. Developed by Dr. Eli Friedman and James T. Hutchisson in New York in 1976, this lightweight machine allowed patients to travel. Northwest Kidney Center patients were the first outside New York to use it. Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos is said to have secretly used a machine like this.

  • Boen home peritoneal dialysis cycler. Used in the 1960s, this machine includes a 40-liter bottle that was sterilized and filled with dialysate at the hospital, then delivered to the patient’s home. For each treatment, a physician made a house call to make a puncture for access.

Dialysis through the years

Visitors see machines, photos from ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ·


The Clyde Shields family in front of a Drake-Willock dialysis machine

In addition to seeing early dialysis machines, visitors can read stories about our founders and earliest patients.

Machines from the 1940s to present day.

Pay a visit

The museum is now open and accepting visitors at our Burien clinic by appointment only. Please call 206-292-2771 to schedule your appointment.