Inpatient Programs - Pulmonary Medicine Program

HealthBridge Children’s Hospital offers a Pulmonary Program for children who are chronically ill, physically fragile or traumatically injured. The program provides care for children who need short-term tracheotomy/ventilator assistance and to those with long-term tracheotomy/ventilator dependencies who will return home.

Our program monitors all of our patients on a 24-hour basis. Patients are placed on a portable ventilator and may receive therapies in one of the facility's living or therapy areas. As children improve, they may receive Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP®) or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) as other forms of ventilation.

Our experienced staff helps teach the family about their child's condition and how to manage symptoms at home. In addition to learning medical and therapeutic care, they can participate in patient care conferences with other members of the treatment team. Additionally, we offer parents resources to cope with stress and other difficulties during their child's treatment.

Conditions Treated

We treat infants and children who have sustained a neurological injury or who have immature lungs that have resulted in breathing difficulties.

• Anoxia

• Anemia

• Birth defects/genetic disorders

• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia

• Brain injury

• Brain stem stroke

• Guillain-Barr

• Neuromuscular disorders

• Spinal cord injury

• Sleep disorders

• Ventilator management

• Family education and training

To help children get the most out of their  treatment, we provide assistive devices and environmental control units (ECUs), which enable the child to independently turn on and off the lights, television, radio, etc., without the use of their hands. In addition to assistive devices, we offer the following specialized services:

• Care coordination/case management

• Child Life specialists

• Medical management (pediatric pulmonologists)

• Neuropsychology/psychology

• Nursing care

• Nutrition services

• Occupational therapy

• On-site education

• Physical therapy

• Respiratory therapy

• Social Work/psychosocial needs

• Speech-language pathology