If you find yourself feeling tired day after day, the problem might not be your mattress, your bedtime or the amount of caffeine you drink in the evening. It could be that your body isn’t letting you get a good sleep because it’s struggling to breathe.
Registered respiratory therapist Jaime Williams says people are often surprised to find out they have Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).
“They often don’t remember waking up numerous times in the night. All they know is that they’re always tired,” explains Williams. “If they don’t have a partner who’s noticing, it can come as quite a shock when we tell them they’re not breathing properly at night.”
Williams says other symptoms of OSA are snoring, pauses in breathing, gasping or choking sounds, frequent headaches, high blood pressure, poor concentration/memory and waking up feeling groggy.
A sleep study is used to diagnose a patient with OSA. Williams is the regional director of Respiratory Therapy Specialists Inc. (RTS) and says they do not charge for overnight sleep testing.
“We want to help our patients get to the bottom of their symptoms,” says Williams. “We set them up with a portable sleep monitor, and then they’re able to go to sleep in their own home. When they bring the monitor back, we have an independent sleep specialist interpret their results.”
If test results show a patient does indeed have OSA, Williams says they can be paired with an RTS respiratory therapist and start sleeping with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mask that ensures their airway remains open.
He says the team loves being able to help their patients feel stronger and healthier. In fact, Respiratory Therapy Specialists Inc. is celebrating 25 years of providing home oxygen and sleep apnea services to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“We’re so proud of how far we’ve come over the last 25 years,” says Williams. “A lot has changed, and we’ve grown significantly, but we’ve stayed true to our original vision: providing exceptional patient care.”
RTS has humble beginnings in the basement of a St. John’s home. It started in 1992 as a part-time hustle during evenings and weekends, and slowly grew up its client base until there was a tiny office on Campbell Avenue in St. John’s.
Now, 25 years later, RTS has four locations across Newfoundland — St. John’s, Spaniards Bay, Gander and Corner Brook — and a new by-appointment-only clinic in Grand Falls-Windsor. There are also five locations in Nova Scotia — Halifax/Dartmouth, Windsor, New Glasgow, New Minas and Bridgetown.
Along with serving people with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Williams says RTS also provides home oxygen equipment for people with low blood oxygen levels, such as people with COPD.
“We’re committed to helping people live more comfortably and safely in their own homes,” says Williams. “It’s what we’ve been doing for 25 years, and we can’t wait to see where we are in another 25 years.”
For more information about Respiratory Therapy Specialists in St. John’s, visit www.rtsatlantic.com or call (709) 579-3749 or toll free at (877) 420-0202. If you mention this story when you call or drop by, you will receive 10 per cent off CPAP masks and accessory purchases for the entire month of October.
