Mercy Gala funds to go for creation of new sleep lab

Monday, August 20, 2007

Sleep apnea, a disease that affects more than 12 million adults nationwide and often times is undiagnosed, can cause extraordinary problems.

The Mercy Health Center Foundation plans to use some of the proceeds from this year's Capture the Spirit Gala to construct a sleep lab at Mercy Health Center, located at 401 Woodland Hills Blvd, which will make detection and treatment of sleep apnea possible, Mercy Health Center CEO John Woodrich said.

Apnea is a Greek word which means "without breath," according to the American Sleep Apnea Association Web site found at www.sleepapnea.org/info/index.html. Three types of sleep apnea exist; obstructive, central, and mixed. Though these types all differ in one way or another, they all have one trait in common; they all cause a person to stop breathing frequently throughout the night, the Web site said. Obstructive sleep apnea, the most common form of this disease, originates with a blockage of the airway. Often this blockage occurs when the "soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep," the Web site said.

If a person has the second type of sleep apnea, called central sleep apnea, the person's brain neglects to tell the muscles to breathe. If a person develops the third type, called mixed sleep apnea, the person will have a combination of both of the other types of apnea, the online article said.

The Web site isolates several risk factors people can watch for that might lead to sleep apnea.

"Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children," the statement said.

Construction of a sleep lab will allow for diagnosis and treatment of this condition which can cause high blood pressure, other circulatory problems, memory problems, weight gain, impotency and headaches. These health issues can cause a person to have trouble at work and with daily activities such as driving a car, the online publication said.

One possible treatment for sleep apnea is a device called a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), John Fox an internal medicine physician at Mercy Physicians located in Mercy Health Center, said.

"Nasal CPAP delivers air into your airway through a specially designed nasal mask or pillows. The mask does not breathe for you; the flow of air creates enough pressure when you inhale to keep your airway open. CPAP is considered the most effective nonsurgical treatment for the alleviation of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea," according to information found online at www.entnet.org/healthinfo/snoring/cpap.cfm.

Specific physicians will be trained to read the sleep lab test results accurately. It is important for these physicians to already be trained in either internal medicine or in pulmonary lung specialties. Mercy Hospital will be equipped with two sleep lab rooms in order to allow for the testing of two patients simultaneously, Fox said.

The creation of a sleep lab in Bourbon County will prevent patients from having to drive long distances in order to receive much needed testing and treatment, Woodrich said.

For more information about the sleep lab or to reserve a place at this year's Capture the Spirit Gala, call Carla Farmer at (620) 223-7026.