Owensboro Health | Lift | June 2018

How well you sleep can make a big difference for your health. Sleeping gives our bodies time to recover from daily stress and to build up energy for the following day’s activities. Adults generally need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Not getting enough sleep or suffering from poor-quality sleep over time is linked to a number of serious health issues. Roughly 18 million Americans have trouble getting a healthy amount of sleep due to sleep apnea. This condition causes disrupted breathing during the night, lowering a person’s sleep quality. That’s where Kim Howard comes in. Howard is the lead registered polysomnographic technologist at Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital Sleep Lab. She cares for patients who are completing sleep studies, collects and scores all the data from these studies, and generates reports to be read by the referring physician. The medical director of the Sleep Lab is Jon Tumen, MD, a pulmonologist and sleep medicine physician. All ages and genders can be affected by a sleep disorder. “I see patients of various ages, from youth to the elderly,” Howard said. “Sleep apnea is the most common sleep disorder and in our lab the diagnosis is almost evenly split between men and women. In the past, it was more common for men to be affected, but we are seeing a rise in women with the disorder.” There are different types of sleep studies that can be performed. “Typically, our sleep studies are conducted overnight in one of our bedrooms in the sleep lab. The study typically lasts between six and eight hours while the patient is monitored continuously and data is collected. I then score the data and generate a report that is reviewed by Dr. Tumen to find out if the patient requires further therapies,” Howard said. “There are also portable home study kits that offer a basic diagnostic tool to see if a patient has sleep apnea. A small recorder with a belt, pulse oximeter and a tube that tracks breathing under the nose are sent home with a qualifying patient. The patient returns the equipment and the data is analyzed in much the same way as our in-house sleep studies.” In addition to sleep apnea, other sleep disorders include restless leg syndrome, seizure activity in sleep, heart arrhythmias and many other types of sleep disturbances. If you or someone you know is having trouble sleeping, make an appointment with your primary care provider to see if a sleep study may be right for you. Momentum A MUHLENBERG COUNTY SPECIAL SECTION Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital partners with nonprofit organizations to invest in community health improvement projects. Programs for which funds are requested must focus on providing services that address an identified health need or root causes of health problems in Muhlenberg County. To qualify for the $500 mini-grants, a representative from a nonprofit organization must visit OwensboroHealth.org/MuhlenbergGrant to apply online. The application consists of basic information about the nonprofit organization, the population that it serves, the details for how the funds will be used, how the organization improves the health of the community and how many people are served. Organizations may receive a $500 mini-grant once per fiscal year (June 1 through May 31 of the following year) and are encouraged to apply at any time. Mini- grants available If you or someone you know is having trouble sleeping, make an appointment with your primary care provider to see if a sleep study may be right for you. The significance of sleep 4 • Momentum