Important note: This article is general information about restoring a home after a flood. It is not medical advice. Dialysis, care of the dialysis access, diet, fluid limits and medicines must follow the instructions of the doctors and dialysis nurses who look after the patient. Never miss a dialysis session because of the house. If the patient becomes breathless, very swollen, has chest pain or a fever, or the arm with the dialysis access becomes red and swollen, contact the dialysis unit or call 1669 immediately.

A story from the field: Monday, Wednesday and Friday never stop, even in a flood

Lung Chan is 66 and has lived with chronic kidney failure for three years. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday he goes to the hospital's dialysis unit for several hours of hemodialysis. He lives in a two-storey detached house on a housing estate off Kanchanaphisek Road in Bang Yai with his wife, Pa Boonruean, who is 63. Their son, Khun Oat, works in Bangkok and visits every weekend.

In early October 2026 several days of heavy rain pushed water from the canals around the estate onto the roads and into the house, about 35 centimeters deep. Khun Oat brought his parents to stay at his condo and drove his father to every dialysis session without missing one. The house in Bang Yai sat in water for about a week.

When the water receded, the three of them went back to look. A thin layer of mud covered the ground floor. The padded armchair where Lung Chan always rests after dialysis was soaked and stained. The wooden cupboard under the stairs had swollen, and the wall of the ground-floor bedroom had a long tide line with black spots starting to appear. A musty smell hung through the whole house. Pa Boonruean picked up a broom to start sweeping, and Lung Chan wanted to help carry things, even though after each dialysis session he is so tired he can barely walk.

Khun Oat stopped them both. He remembered the dialysis nurses warning his father to be careful about infections and to look after the arm with his dialysis access: no cuts, no heavy lifting with that arm. The questions that followed were obvious. What would it take for the house to be clean enough for his father to come back? And how could it be done without his parents doing the hard work themselves?

Bang Yai has many families in the same position, on the housing estates along Kanchanaphisek, Bang Yai City and the older villages near the canals, where an older parent travels to dialysis several times a week. For these families the flood is not just a cleaning job; it has to fit around a medical schedule that cannot move.

Dialysis happens at the hospital, but most of life happens at home

A hemodialysis patient spends a few hours at a time in the dialysis unit, but the rest of the week they are eating, sleeping and recovering at home. The dialysis unit already maintains hospital-standard hygiene. Cleanliness at home is the family's job, and after a flood there are several things worth knowing.

• Infection risk. Doctors usually advise patients with chronic kidney failure to be especially careful about infections. Ask the dialysis team exactly what to watch for.
• Germs from floodwater. Water that has passed through canals and drains carries bacteria that settle on floors, table and chair legs and anything stored low down. They are linked with diarrheal illness and skin infections.
• Leptospirosis. Rats escaping the water shelter in houses and their urine mixes into the water and mud. The patient should not wade through water or mud and should not be the one washing the house.
• Mold and musty odor. Walls, cushions and mattresses that stay damp grow mold within days. Airborne spores can cause a stuffy nose, coughing or allergy flare-ups.
• Fatigue. Many patients feel exhausted after dialysis. Asking them to scrub, lift or bend all day raises the risk of falls and injury.

The World Health Organization explains that the health effects of a flood do not end when the water goes down, because damp and damage to buildings remain for some time. For people with chronic illness, that matters even more.

What families of dialysis patients carry after a flood

The schedule. Dialysis appointments cannot be moved. The family has to fit the house work around the days they drive the patient to hospital, wait, and bring them home again.

The carer's own strength. Most carers are spouses of a similar age. Asking Pa Boonruean, at 63, to scrub the whole house on her own puts her at just as much risk of injury as the patient.

Money. Travel to dialysis from temporary accommodation, replacing damaged furniture, and paying again for wall repairs if the cleaning is done wrongly and the mold comes back.

Feelings. Many patients want to get back to their own home as soon as possible. Staying at a child's place for a long time makes them feel like a burden. A clear plan for when they can return makes everyone feel better.

What many families do themselves, and why it does not suit a dialysis patient's home

• Letting the older people in the house do the scrubbing. Both patient and carer are older and at risk of slipping, and the patient has to protect the arm with the dialysis access.
• Using strong bleach. The harsh smell lingers, irritates the airways, and mixed with some bathroom cleaners it can produce dangerous gas.
• Drying out a soaked armchair or mattress and using it again. The inside stays damp and full of germs, a long-term source of mold and odor.
• Fans and air freshener. They only dry the surface and mask the smell for a while; they do nothing about the source.
• Painting over a wall that is still damp. The paint bubbles and the black spots return within weeks.

Plan the house around the dialysis schedule

The simple principle: the patient should not be in the house while mud is being cleared, walls repaired, or fogging and ozone treatment carried out, and should not be worn out further on dialysis days. Here is the kind of plan many families use.

1. Let the patient keep staying elsewhere for now, for example at a child's or relative's home with an easy route to the hospital.
2. Use non-dialysis days as the patient's rest days. Leave the heavy house work to younger relatives or professionals.
3. Take medicines, the weight and blood pressure log, the blood pressure monitor and the scale out of the house before ozone treatment day. Ask the pharmacist before using any medicine that got wet.
4. Throw away armchairs, mattresses and cushions soaked in floodwater, and buy new ones only after the house has been disinfected.
5. Book the fogging and ozone team once mud clearing and repairs are finished, and allow at least one night of ventilation before the patient returns.
6. Bring the patient home on a non-dialysis day so travel and moving back do not pile up on the same day as treatment.

The solution: Chemgene HLD4H disinfection fogging and ozone treatment by the WHD team

World Health Disinfection (WHD) provides disinfection fogging and ozone treatment for homes after a flood. It follows on from mud clearing and repairs, dealing with germs and odors in places that wiping cannot reach.

Ultra-low-volume (ULV) fogging uses CHEMGENE HLD4H, a disinfectant used in healthcare settings. The fine mist reaches floors, lower walls, table legs, under beds, bathrooms and high-touch points such as stair rails, bathroom grab bars, door handles and the TV remote.

Closed-room ozone treatment lets ozone gas reach the gaps behind cupboards, curtains and the texture of some materials, helping to destroy airborne mold spores and break down odor molecules. When the treatment time is over, ozone reverts to oxygen and the room is then ventilated.

Our process, from survey to the patient coming home

1. Survey with a son, daughter or carer. The team asks about the dialysis schedule and the day the patient plans to return, then checks the water line, mold stains and smelly areas.
2. Clean-up advice. We tell you which furniture should go, where mud must be fully washed out, and which repairs should come first.
3. Confirm medicines and medical equipment have been removed before work starts.
4. Disinfection fogging with Chemgene HLD4H across every area the water reached, focusing on the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and the patient's resting corner.
5. Closed-room ozone treatment of rooms with a musty smell, with nobody in the house.
6. Ventilation and re-check. Doors and windows are opened until no ozone smell remains, the old problem spots are checked again, and we advise on keeping humidity under control.

10 reasons Bang Yai families ask WHD to prepare a dialysis patient's home

1. We schedule the work so it never clashes with dialysis days or the patient's rest days.
2. Neither the patient nor an older carer has to scrub the house.
3. We use Chemgene HLD4H, a disinfectant used in healthcare settings.
4. Fine-mist fogging reaches corners you cannot reach with a cloth.
5. Ozone treatment deals with musty odor and airborne mold spores.
6. No harsh chemical smell or strong perfume is left in the house.
7. We focus on the places the patient uses most: bedroom, bathroom and the after-dialysis resting corner.
8. We always remind you to move medicines and measuring devices out before treatment.
9. Dust mite removal is available for the new mattress and chair.
10. Easy contact by phone and LINE, so children living far away can coordinate easily.

Before and after

A customer's voice (example scenario)

"I did not want my parents scrubbing the house themselves, so I booked the team for a Tuesday, a day my father does not have dialysis. They fogged the whole ground floor and treated the bedroom with ozone. On Thursday Dad moved back home, and on Friday he went to dialysis from his own house just like before. He was so happy."

— A son and carer, Kanchanaphisek area, Bang Yai

Setting up a safer resting corner after the flood

Many dialysis patients have a favorite spot where they recover after each session: an armchair near the TV, a daybed by the window, or a corner of the ground-floor bedroom. When that spot has been through a flood, it is worth rethinking it rather than simply replacing what was there.

• Choose wipeable furniture. A chair or daybed with a vinyl or leatherette surface is easier to keep clean than thick fabric that soaks up moisture.
• Keep it off the floor. Furniture with legs and space underneath lets you clean below it and lets air circulate, so damp does not collect.
• Clear the path. After dialysis the patient may feel dizzy or weak. A clear route from the door to the chair and the bathroom, with no rugs or cables to trip over, matters.
• Protect the access arm. Place side tables and remote controls on the other side, so the patient does not need to reach or lean on the arm with the dialysis access.
• Light and air. A spot near a window that can be opened in the morning helps keep the area fresh and dry.

For questions about rest, positioning and caring for the access arm, follow the dialysis nurses' advice. Our part is making sure the corner itself is clean, dry and free of musty odor before the patient settles back in.

Checklist before the patient comes home

• Ask the dialysis team whether there are any special precautions for the home, and write them down.
• Finish mud clearing, wall repairs and any dusty work first.
• Throw away soaked cushions, mattresses and chairs, and set up a resting corner with a clear path and no stray cables.
• Have the house fogged and ozone-treated with nobody inside, then ventilate for at least one night.
• Bring back medicines, the scale and the blood pressure monitor once checked, and store them high up and dry.
• Stick the dialysis unit's number and emergency numbers on the fridge.

What to tell the team when you call

A short phone call or LINE message is enough to get started, but a little information up front helps us plan properly. Let us know that someone in the house is on hemodialysis, which days they go to the dialysis unit, and roughly when you hope they can come home. Tell us how high the water reached, which rooms flooded, whether mud has already been cleared, and whether any repairs are still planned. Photos of the walls, floors and furniture help a great deal, especially if you live far from the house and cannot be there for every visit.

Mention any medical equipment or supplies kept at home, so the team can remind you to move them out before treatment and check on the day that it has been done. If there are other vulnerable people in the household, such as young children or another older relative, tell us that too. With that information we can suggest a realistic date for fogging and ozone treatment, how long ventilation should take, and the earliest sensible day for the patient to return.

Why we suggest at least one night before the patient returns

Families sometimes ask whether the patient can come home the same afternoon. In practice, a little extra time brings real benefits. Ozone reverts to oxygen after treatment, but the house still needs a good airing so that no ozone smell remains, especially in closed bedrooms and bathrooms. Surfaces that were fogged should be given time to dry as the team advises before anyone sits or lies on them. An overnight gap also gives the family a chance to walk through calmly, wipe down the bedside table and dining table, make up the bed with fresh linen and put medicines back in a dry, high place. Coming home to a house that is aired, ready and quiet is far less tiring for a dialysis patient than arriving while the last jobs are still being finished.

Looking after the carer too

In many homes the person doing most of the work is not the patient but the husband, wife or adult child who looks after them. After a flood, carers often push themselves too hard: clearing mud in the morning, driving to the dialysis unit at midday, and scrubbing again in the evening. That pace is not sustainable, and an exhausted or injured carer makes life harder for everyone.

Share the jobs out among family members where you can, and accept outside help for the heavy and specialist work. Booking a professional team for fogging and ozone treatment is not only about the result; it gives the carer a day off from the house so they can rest, sleep or simply sit with the patient. Keeping a short written record of what has been done, and what is still left, also helps the whole family see progress and avoid arguments about who should do what next.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can the work be done while the patient is at dialysis, so they do not need to move out?
A: The time for dialysis plus travel is usually not long enough for fogging, ozone treatment and ventilation. We recommend the patient stays elsewhere for at least one night and comes home the next day.

Q: Does the house need to be hospital-clean?
A: The goal is a home that is clean, dry and free of mold and musty odor. For precautions specific to the patient, ask the dialysis team.

Q: Medicines stored in a ground-floor cupboard got wet. Can we still use them?
A: Do not decide yourself. Take them to the pharmacist or the dialysis unit and ask for replacements as advised.

Q: Can the patient's favorite chair be ozone-treated and kept?
A: If floodwater soaked into the cushions, ozone can help with the smell but cannot make the foam inside clean. We recommend replacing it.

Q: What about a patient doing peritoneal dialysis at home?
A: Peritoneal dialysis has specific procedures that must be followed exactly as the nurses instruct. Consult the medical team before planning cleaning in the room where it is done, and move all supplies and equipment out before ozone treatment.

Q: How should we look after the house afterwards?
A: Open windows for ventilation, check wall corners and behind cupboards once a week, and call the team for a re-check if the smell or stains come back.

Let the patient rest and recover in a clean home again

Tell us there is a dialysis patient in the family and which days they have dialysis. The team will plan the work to fit.

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Call 065-556-6294 · LINE @whd268 · worldhealthdisinfection@gmail.com

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• External sources: WHO: Floods · Department of Disease Control, Thailand