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For Your Health –
A chance to sleep on the job
By Dee Coppola |
 As long as anyone can remember, local doctors have referred their sleep-deprived patients to Seattle clinics for testing and analysis — but no longer!
Harrison Hospital has opened a much-needed sleep lab, right here in Kitsap County.
To spread the word, Harrison spokeswoman, Patti Hart, invited our publisher to come test drive the new facility. Unfortunately, he had already done this for real in Seattle some years ago, so I volunteered.
First order of business was a trip to the Bon for a cute pair of pajamas — after all, representing The Kitsap Business Journal is serious stuff.
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| “We opened this sleep lab because there isn’t a facility of this type here,” said Dr. Akmal Sarwar, head of Harrison’s new sleep center. “Five percent of the population suffers from some form of sleep apnea. That not only impairs their social and occupational functions, but it also leads to heart disease and hypertension. We wanted to serve the people who can’t get to Seattle or Tacoma, or are on waiting lists there to have this treated. It’s a medical necessity to treat it as soon as possible.” |
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I arrived at Harrison’s main campus in Bremerton around 8:30 p.m., and by 10, had been debriefed and wired for sound by sleep polysomnographic technologist, Mark Johnson. In all, there were 24 different sensors glued or strapped to my head, chest and legs. While it took approximately one hour to be fitted with the monitoring devices, Johnson was definitely part of the floor show. Harrison sure picked the right guy for the job — lots of one liners and great facts.
My sleep room was nice and comfy (and dark). I usually fall asleep in 30 seconds or less, but it took 10 minutes to arrange the wiring. Then, off to dreamland.
Johnson monitors the patients throughout the night, with two computers recording every twitch. Some patients are asked to remain the following day for additional testing, based on the results from the overnight sleep study.
All in all, I received a good night’s sleep, a great breakfast and instructions to continue to sleep on my side. The final analysis will come in a couple of weeks from Dr. Akmal Sarwar, the medical director of the clinic.
More than 100 million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep disorder — sleep apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy, sleepwalking and night terrors, to name a few. Failing to get a good night’s sleep can increase your risk for heart attack, falling-asleep-at-the-wheel auto accidents, or simply poor job performance.
If you think you might have a sleep disorder and want to spend the night with Johnson in one of Harrison’s four sleep labs, ask your physician for a referral.
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