RESPIRATORY

YRMC Respiratory Wellness Classes - click here for info.

Respiratory Care services at YRMC are available to both inpatients or outpatients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to all age groups. Respiratory Care is the healthcare discipline that specializes in the promotion of optimum cardiopulmonary function and health. Respiratory therapists apply scientific principles to prevent, identify and treat acute or chronic dysfunction of the cardiopulmonary (relating to the heart and lungs) system.

The practice of Respiratory Care encompasses diagnostic evaluation, therapy, and education of the patient, family and the public. The focus of patient and family education is to promote knowledge of disease processes, medical therapy and self-help. Services include:

• Spirometry: A lung-function test to determine the volume of a patient’s breath, how fast he or she can move the air in that breath, and whether breathing medications are working.
• Methacholine challenge: A lung-function test to determine if a patient has a reactive airway disease, such as asthma.
• EEO (exercise evaluation oximetry): A test that checks oxygen needs, both when resting and with exercise by measuring the oxygen level of circulating blood.
• Transcutaneous oximetry: A test that measures the amount of oxygen available to the body’s tissue.
• Outpatient treatments: Treatments that include chest percussion therapy and pulse oximetry and basic breathing treatments.
• Pulmonary assessment: A number of tests used to evaluate the pulmonary health of patients considering open-heart surgery.
• Respiratory Wellness Program: A program provided in cooperation with YRMC’s Pendleton Centers in which patients learn about respiratory equipment, medications, stress management, nutrition, muscle strengthening and breathing techniques, and more – all designed to increase the ease of daily living.