If someone breezes into a patient’s room at Bradford Regional
Medical Center like a breath of fresh air, chances are they are
from the cardiopulmonary department.

The cardiopulmonary department consists of five areas –
respiratory, sleep lab, EKG Lab, EEG Lab and UpBeat – and deals
with patients who have problems with their heart and breathing.

“We are accountable,” said Penny Oyler, about the department’s
care for the patients and the community. “Make their lives better.
We take our jobs very, very seriously. We are very passionate about
what we do.”

Oyler is the director of cardiopulmonary and neurology
services.

“We are a team who believes in the needs of our patients and
strive to create a caring and nurturing environment,” Oyler said.
“We hold ourselves accountable to achieve the best health care
services for our customers.”

The department has eight respiratory therapists that bring more
than 170 years of experience to the job. They provide breathing
treatments with medication to patients with emphysema, asthma,
pneumonia and other long term problems. They also help with
assessment and diagnosis.

“We are the physician’s eyes and ears,” Oyler said, adding they
see a patient more than a doctor may. “We are an extension to them
– taking care of and diagnosing patients.”

Those physicians include Dr. Frank Arnal, pulmonologist, and Dr.
Steven Herrmann, the cardiologist, both of whom work closely with
the department.

“Both have passion, too,” Oyler said. “They share our passion.
They get us psyched. They are very supportive of what we do.”

When the respiratory therapists talk with patients, they are not
just getting oral information, but can also observe nostrils
flaring, if there are brown bags under the patient’s eyes and look
at the shape of their fingertips; each can single out a different
problem.

“We are looking you over,” respiratory therapist Larry Barrile
said. “They don’t know it.”

Oyler explained that many patients believe they come in their
hospital room and just give them a breathing treatment.

“They don’t know what we have done for them.”

They also get more information just by talking with the
patients.

“They talk about their family history, where they used to work,”
Barrile said. If the patient reveals they worked in a building with
asbestos, “Bingo, there it is.”

Information is one key in helping patients on the road to
recovery.

“The more information, the better,” Barrile said. “Give them
information to make a logical decision.”

Part of this is understanding why a doctor is giving them a
certain medication or prescribing a treatment.

Barrile gave an example of a woman who had been sick for five
years. After he asked a few questions, he was able to help in her
diagnosis.

“Now I have some hope,” the woman told Barrile.

Another friend of Barrile was having trouble sleeping and was
blaming it on the box springs he had bought for $2,000. After the
friend went on a BiPAP, a bilevel positive airway pressure, to help
his breathing, he was able to sleep better.

A BiPAP machine feels like “you stick your head out a window
going 65 mph,” Barrile said.

It does the therapist good, too, when patients feel better.

“It makes me feel good to know I helped them,” he said.

Part of the information they share is about the equipment,
including ventilators.

“It’s not to be afraid of,” Oyler said, adding it can help when
patients need it. “It’s there to help patients get over that
hump.”

Respiratory help is only one facet of the department.

The sleep lab includes one respiratory therapist/sleep
technologist with 30 years experience and one assistant. There,
tests are done to help diagnose obstructive sleep apnea and improve
wellness of patients who have been diagnosed with airway, lung and
heart disease.

The EKG Lab has three cardiology technicians with more than 35
years of experience who provide assistance in diagnosing and
treating heart disease, including giving an EKG, an
electrocardiogram which records the electrical activity of the
heart.

The EEG Lab has two technologists. An electroencephalogram
records the electrical activity of the brain.

Dr. Petronio Ilagan, BRMC neurologist, uses this to provide
neurological diagnosis for strokes, brain injury, seizures and
epilepsy.

UpBeat has three exercise physiologists. The program has two
major components – cardiac rehab and physician-referred project for
people with risk factors for heart disease, suffer from COPD,
osteoporosis or want a guided exercise program.

All patients – no matter the program – must be referred by their
doctor.

Several friendships have grown out of the UpBeat program, Oyler
said.

For instance, one man who had a heart attack was apprehensive
about exercising. At UpBeat, he met an older man who was about four
weeks ahead of him in recovery.

“This is what I can do,” Oyler said about his attitude.