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<dclea@hotmail.com>
posted
My wife's mother has ALS and has choosen to go on the vent when her breathing fails. We are slowing learning that it might not be possible to keep her in our home on the vent (she has no husband and my wife is the primary care giver).
We live in South Texas and she lives near Charlotte NC. We have been looking for nursing homes that take vent patients in both/either the San Antonio Tx area and the Charlotte NC area. We visited two in San Antonio but have not been able to locate any in the Charlotte NC area. How can we find out if there are any that take vent patients???
Second ?? If she does move to a nursing home, how 'portable' are the vents? Can she come spend the week end with us outside the nursing home???
Any help is appreciated.
I also sent a message to Barbara at Breathezy - hope this is not a duplicate.
 
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<Cyndy Miller>
posted
Dear Sir,

Yes, there are portable ventilators that can go between the home and the nursing facility very easily. Newport makes the HT50 Ventilator which is ideal for this purpose. It is lightweight, self contained and has a 10 hour battery built-in. The Newport dealer in Texas is John Stark & Assoc tel: 210.6591197, email: jsa@texas.net. Please contact me directly if you have clinical questions about the ventilator.

All my best,

Cyndy Miller
Director of Clinical Education
Newport Medical Instruments
cmiller@nmitkb.com
www.ventilators.com
 
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I am sorry for the mileading information, John Stark & Assoc is no longer a Newport dealer in Texas. Please contact Newport directly at 1.800.4513111 ext 282.

Thanks and all my best,

Cyndy Miller
 
Posts: 19 | Location: Newport Beach, CA, USA | Registered: November 22, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Try the LTV Max Solis is the area rep. 800-754-1914
 
Posts: 11 | Registered: January 28, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<NC manager>
posted
have you found what you needed? I am the Respiratory Manager for a new Long-Term care vent unit located in NC. We will be using LTV 900 ventilator. It is portable and can be used in transports if needed. We are still in the process of putting together policy & procedure. If we can help e-mail me
 
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<AKing>
posted
IVUN, the International Ventilator User's Network, has a list of Nursing Homes in their latest resource directory - which you can find at http://www.post-polio.org/ivun/d-ltvu.html

On the internet I have seen some nursing homes advertise that they have portable vents - usually an LTV manufactured by Pulmonetic Systems Inc.which weighs only about 12 lbs & is the size of a laptop computer. If there isn't such a nursing home close to you, IVUN's directory also has a comprehensive list of ventilator products & companies so perhaps there's a way to work something out.
 
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Hello!
I am the administrator of a skilled nursing facility located in Fincastle, VA which is 25 minutes north of Roanoke, VA. We use the HT50 Newport ventilator for all of our ventilator patients and they are very portable. We have 7 ventilator beds in our small 60 bed nursing facility and we currently have an open bed waiting for a patient. If you are interested in learning more about my facility, please feel free to contact me at brianadm@kissito.com or call me directly at 540-473-2288.

Ryan Koeniger
 
Posts: 3 | Location: Fincastle, VA | Registered: August 05, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hello!
 
Posts: 3 | Location: Fincastle, VA | Registered: August 05, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<SC Manger>
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I'm the manger of a vent unit with 20 beds. WE staff one RT per shift. Is this legal and if not were can i fine this infomation so i can talk with administration. WE use Lp 10 and Lp 20 vents.
 
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Picture of GaryMefford
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SC Manger,
each ventilator patient has varying needs for respiratory care. Some are very stable and only require routine and basic care. Some are highly variable and demanding. The determination of the amount of care needed for a group of any type of patient should take into account the cumulative needs of the entire group and appropriate disciplines time should be allotted to the care of the patients in question. I realize there are other models around the world, but in my experience licensed respiratory therapists are the only discipline that should provide for the respiratory needs of any patient. RCPs are the most cost effective and assure the highest level of safety and the shortest time to the best outcomes. Your question about legality is distressing. You can check with your state board of health to determine the "legality". I will assert that if your unit is full, one RCP per shift is probably not safe. I have direct experience in all levels of care. My heart goes out desperately for vent patients. Yes nurses can monitor vents and suction. I often have heard "well we teach the family to care for these patients at home". This is generally a one on one situation where the family is highly focused on the vent dependent person's needs. These individuals are quite stable. Those patients requiring care in a medical facility are not usually the same as those at home. Nursing is generally not adequate to the task particularly if clinical or technical requirements get far from the normal range. When I say not adequate, I mean trained or staffed. Yes, there are exceptions. Your one respiratory therapist if they are actually carrying a 20 ventilator patient load are either running their legs off far to excess, relegating respiratory care tasks to nurses, techs or families or cutting corners and potentially providing unsafe or stagnated care. I have nothing against nursing. Nurses are heroes of the highest order, but they are not usually trained anywhere near to the extent that RTs are on ventilator patient care and assessment of the patient/ventilator system. A specific number of respiratory therapists may not be required legally, but they are required if you are going to put together a quality program. Speak to administration, not about what is legal, but about what is right by those people on the ventilators. Gather a team of experienced, strong RCPs who are dedicated to producing results for your patients. If you do this it might cost a little more to care for these patients, but you will always have full beds because of the reputation your unit will develop. You will also have less potential for spending time in court. Honestly I would not ever be one of your therapists if you require me to cover 20 vent patients. I would be so stressed to the breaking point trying to meet the needs of such a large group of these demanding patients. Yes it can be done. I have heard of similar units, with similar respiratory staffing. Would I want to be a vent dependent resident or patient on one, would anyone? If you take into account the average needs of vent patients for their respiratory therapists it is very difficult to provide any quality level of care at much less than 3 respiratory therapist hours per patient per day. Considering this you are not staffed with RTs for more than 8 vent patients. In the long term acute facility where I work RTs are not to be assigned more than 5 vent patients. It may well take more than 3 hrs per vent patient day depending on the mix, and yes it possibly could be done with less, but if your group is strictly vent patients, safety becomes marginal and outcomes (weaning, minimization of VAP, and prevention of increases in illness severity, etc) nearly impossible with the lesser. Another sad fact I have observed is that these units are often staffed by therapists with minimal levels of experience when they need highly seasoned practitioners to meet their patient's complex needs. In many places what is legal is way off the mark of what is right for these patients. What is right is actually cost effective in the long run even though that is often a hard point to make with the bean counters. I say go for it, legally required or not.
 
Posts: 147 | Location: Buckeye Az | Registered: January 27, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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