Caring for Tracheotomy Patients After Intensive Care
The Transitional Care Center is an inpatient unit for our young patients with complex pulmonary (lung), neurological (brain) or muscular conditions requiring ventilator support. We provide transitional care for children and adolescents who are first-time tracheotomy patients and need additional ventilator support in order to be discharged from the hospital and for patients who have been living at home with a ventilator but are returning to the hospital for a procedure or due to illness.
The patients we serve typically have:
- Chronic lung diseases such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), which is caused by prematurity.
- Traumatic brain injuries such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), the result of a baby’s brain not receiving enough oxygen during birth, or those resulting from major motor vehicle accidents and other life-threatening events.
- Severe neuromuscular conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which can affect breathing due to weakened intercostal (around the ribs) muscles.
