Staff and History
The UVA Renal Exercise Program started by Kline Bolton, MD in 1998 with a goal of improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Although at the time the research on exercise and ESRD was in its infancy, Dr. Bolton hired a full-time physical therapist, Jo Reeder, to help start and maintain the program and was based on the research and literature recommended by the Life Options Rehabilitation and Dr. Patricia Painter, the leading expert on exercise and ESRD in the country. In 2003, Dan Bayliss, an exercise physiologist, took over for Mrs. Reeder and renamed the program the UVA SitFit Exercise Program and expanded the exercise program to it's seven outpatient dialysis units. In 2007, Mandy Newberry, another exercise physiologist, took over for Mr. Bayliss and is constantly working to keep hundreds of patients exercising as well as encouraging new patients to begin. The UVA exercise program uses cycles, steppers, hand and leg weights, dynabands, treadmills, and various other exercises to continually improve the patient's quality of life and physical functioning. Mandy has presented the exercise program at the NKF and continually strives to encourage dialysis units across the country to incorporate exercise as a standard treatment for dialysis.
Kline Bolton, Medical Director, UVA Nephrology
Yvonne McHorney , Renal Services Administrator
Debbie Cote, Renal Services Manager
Sandy Bailey, Renal Services Manager
Mandy Newberry, Exercise Physiologist
Cathy Shifflett, Medical Center Supervisor
Wanda Shreve, Administrative Assistant