The Union Hospital Sleep Disorder Center has diagnosed and treated more than 10,000 patients for sleep disorders like apnea, loud snoring, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, and daytime sleepiness.  The sleep center began in 1996 with one sleep study room and has grown today to four sleep rooms and a state-of-the-art control room where patient?s sleep is monitored and data gathered to help the sleep medicine specialist physician make a diagnosis and recommend effective treatment.

Allen Corbett, manager of respiratory care and the sleep center, says the continued evolution of sleep technology has helped to improve patient comfort both during the sleep study and in the treatment of sleep disorders.

?Our new monitoring equipment is more comfortable for the patient spending the night in our sleep lab,? Corbett said.  ?The new generation of CPAP machines and masks are much improved and more people than ever before are successful in using this equipment to improve their sleep quality.?

CPAP is short for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.  The CPAP equipment includes a small face mask worn by the sleeper at home.  A nearby machine provides a slight air pressure into the mask covering the mouth and nose to maintain an open airway, prevent snoring, and allow a normal pattern of deep sleep for the patient.  Corbett says the new CPAP masks are very light and vastly more comfortable than older equipment and the machines providing the air are smaller, lighter, and operate with much less noise.

?More people than ever before are successfully adapting to sleeping with CPAP.  Some who could not tolerate the mask or machine noise are finding this newer equipment to be much more to their liking,? Corbett said.

Corbett, his staff, and center?s medical director, William Swoger, D.O., of Dover, are working to earn accreditation from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2009. 

?This would be a great accomplishment, something that only the best sleep centers in the country have earned,? Corbett said.

The other new hospital service located in the Oxford Medical building is Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.  Cardiac Rehabilitation assists people recovering from a heart attack, heart surgery, or who are at high risk for heart disease.  The Pulmonary Rehabilitation program is for people with chronic breathing problems that reduce strength and stamina. 

Both rehab programs involve 10 or 12 weeks of classes at the Rehab Center that combine closely monitored exercise, education, and behavior modification.  As patients exercise the staff checks their vital signs frequently.  The readings are sent via a handheld wireless device back to the center?s monitoring station so the staff can remain in the patient exercise area and the patient?s workout is not interrupted.

Rhonda Karl, RN, manager of cardiopolmonary

rehab, checks the blood oxygen level of a

patient during exercise in the Center.

By the time the patient graduates, most people report significant improvements in their strength, endurance, energy levels, and overall feeling of well-being.  Rhonda Karl, RN, the coordinator of the Cardiopulmonary Rehab Center, says she?s seen many amazing outcomes for patients recovering from a heart attach or heart surgery.

?When our patients first start their rehab class many are very limited in their physical abilities.  We start them slowly and after progressing through twelve weeks of closely monitored exercise, they?re doing several miles a day on the treadmill or stationary bike, and feel better than they have in years,? Karl said.

January 2009