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> William B.
William B.
The
prospects for William B. didn’t look good. In the
hospital, and on a mechanical ventilator with little
awareness and not a great prognosis. His family
thought they would have to make a decision they never
wanted to make. But let's let Bill tell you himself:
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My
name is Bill B. and I’m going home and it feels
great!
I was a smoker for forty-six years and an asbestos
worker. You’re not supposed to mix the two but I
did thinking it wouldn’t bother me. In March my
wife found me blue with bubbles coming out of my
mouth. I don’t know if I was breathing and I was
taken to the hospital.
Me and my wife had made a pact that neither one of
us wanted to live on machines or with tubes. I don’t
remember when they put me on the vent in the
hospital – I was virtually dead. Whatever they
tried to do there, it wasn’t worth it and my wife
was at her wits end. It looked bad – she was about
ready to pull the plug because she wanted to go with
my wishes. She went to the Doctor in the hospital
but he said let’s try one more thing and they sent
me to Northeast Center for Special Care to get
respiratory therapy. Now after being here for a
little over two months I’m breathing on my own and
going home!
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“I
don’t remember when they put me in the hospital –
I was virtually dead.” - William B. |
I
was born in Florida in 1944. My father was stationed
there in the service. When he was discharged we
moved to Albany. I worked for a long-time as a
construction worker. I wandered around and worked in
Washington State for a year and my wife came out and
my kids went to school there. I later worked in
several states in paper miles, chemical factories
and a nuclear plant - literally every crummy boiler
place in the northeast. Anything to help burn my
lungs out. In construction, in those days, I worked
around asbestos a lot.
I have a close family. I have four children, two
boys and two girls and six grand children, four boys
and two girls. I’m retired now.
The
respiratory people here were great, especially John.
I can vaguely remember my first week here I was
trying to pull wires out of myself and John calmed
me down and brought me back and I’m grateful to
him for that. So were the nurses and aides. Everyone
greeted me with a smile and called me Mr. Breedlove
or Bill. They were very caring people. I call them
my “saviors.”
Arlene and Christine the therapists are fabulous
girls. They got me walking. I couldn’t walk five
steps two months ago. They taught me how to breathe
and walk the stairs. Now I walked over a half a mile
the other day and today I walked up twenty-six
stairs.
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Patty
Joy, RRT, William B., and Alicia Aldridge, RRT, CBIST.
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Now
I’m ready to go home and I’m leaving next week. I’m
going to enjoy life and no more smoking. I’m going
to Maine for two weeks in August and I’m going to
play with my grandkids. Then I’m going to go to
Ireland next year, which I thought I’d never, ever
be able to do.
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William
B., and Linda Sweeney, LPN. |
Thomas Harvie, RRT, who worked closely with Bill noted:
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Bill was admitted to Northeast Center
for Special Care on a vent with full support. We were
able to wean him off the ventilator and then he was
able to be decannulated. Bill was very self-motivated.
He wanted to do rehab and he wanted to get better. He
had never lived as he had after he was hospitalized.
When he came to Northeast Center we helped him see the
light and he stared to work with pulmonary rehab and
with therapy. He started improving and did very well,
not just with what we were doing with him, he also
carried it to what he did on his own every day taking
what he learned from his therapists.
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Maureen
Dixon, RRT added:
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He’s
done great – from a vent to a trach collar and now
just oxygen – he’s done wonderfully.
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Bill summed up his feelings nicely:
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I’m just tickled to death!, and I’d just like to
thank the people who helped me here. They got the best
staff and they saved my life. Everybody at Northeast
Center, from the cleaning lady to the Doctor to the
top dog has been wonderful. I saw nothing but
professionalism. I’m very impressed with the place -
it really turned my life around.
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William
B., and Arlene Birnbaum, Physical Therapist. |
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Bill embodies what our mission is all about -
he is one of the hundreds of our "program graduates"
who have worked to recover their lives and return to their
home communities.
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Northeast
Center for Special Care
QUICK FACTS:
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- Mechanical
Ventilator: A
device designed to provide mechanical ventilation to a
patient. Ventilators are chiefly used in intensive care
medicine and emergency medicine.
- Respiratory
Therapy: An allied health field involved in the treatment of
breathing disorders which include chronic lung problems (i.e.,
asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema) as well as more acute
health problems related to other injury.
- RRT:
Registered Respiratory Therapist.
A Respiratory Therapist who is registered to work in
New York State.
- Trach
Collar:A
Venti-Trach Mask used to assist an individual with breathing
on their own after being weaned from a Mechanical Ventilator.
- Decannulated:
The Tracheostomy Cannula is removed and the individual
is able to tolerate breathing on his or her own.
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