Peninsula Kidney Associates
Dr. Shuping Wang has practiced nephrology in the Williamsburg area since 2005. She has a special passion for geriatric care and specializes in the management of chronic kidney disease, hypertension and kidney related anemia and bone disease.
A graduate of Tianjin Medical University in the People’s Republic of China, Dr. Wang continued her medical education in the United States at Pennsylvania State University Hershey Medical Center, Internship in Internal Medicine. She served her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, where she also completed a fellowship in nephrology.
In addition to a full-time practice, and the Directorship of the DaVita Williamsburg Medical Center, Dr. Wang regularly volunteers her time treating patients at the Olde Towne Medical & Dental Center, which addresses the needs of Greater Williamsburg’s uninsured and medically underserved residents.
“These are patients with chronic kidney disease,” she says. “They are almost without exception in bad health. Because they’ve been without insurance, their health care problems haven’t been addressed. They often end up in emergency rooms until they find a clinic that will see them, but emergency rooms are not the place to treat chronic conditions. Some are so sick they need hospitalization, which for them means MCV. And so many lack funds or transportation to get there.”
Many of these patients need dialysis urgently. They don’t know or don’t understand that they have a life threatening disease that might take their lives, Dr. Wang says. She tries to educate them, reviewing their lab results, diet and social habits with them and trying to teach them take proper care of themselves.
Although her time at the Clinic is limited, she has many ‘regular’ patients there. “I cannot see them as often as I see my private patients,” she says, “but I see them when they come into the clinic. And when I’m not there, I am frequently in contact with OTMC providers, providing guidelines about specific treatments for each patient.” This includes medications and injections: “Olde Towne has a very strong medication program,” Dr. Wang says. “I can set up the guidance for patients to get these injections through their nurses or doctors.” It takes quite a bit of administrative time, but it’s time she has spent willingly for more than ten years.
“When I first heard that the Clinic needed a kidney specialist to treat those indigent patients with no insurance, I knew I could definitely provide that kind of service to the community,” she says. “I started going a couple of hours on the first Monday of the month. Since then, my hours have increased as the need has increased. I haven’t stopped.”
Dr. Wang feels strongly that physicians have a responsibility to the community in which they practice. “I feel great if I can offer something to these patients,” she says. “It doesn’t matter to me if they have no money,” she adds. “We’re all human beings and we all deserve to be treated with dignity, equally. Whatever I can do to help, I will do.”
She adds, “It’s rewarding; it makes me feel so good to give something, even though I have to make time to do that – but I think it’s the right thing to do.”
