Little Lungs Corner 

Providing Hope for Ventilator Independence Through Clinical Excellence & Emotional Support

For patients throughout Kentucky and beyond who are dependent on ventilator care, Rockcastle Regional Hospital’s Respiratory Care Center represents hope.

Hope that their lives will improve because of the technologically advanced, compassionate care they will receive inside the walls of our nationally renowned facility. Hope that their health may improve to the point of becoming independent from ventilator care, as is the case for about half of our patients.

Though we are consumed with improving the lives of all of our patients, there’s something special about helping our smallest.

At any given time, the Respiratory Care Center is home to a half dozen or more patients who haven’t yet reached their third birthday.

Some were born with diseases or rare birth defects, some may have had accidents such as near-drowning, while others were born with problems related to exposure to drugs while in the womb. In many cases, the babies were born prematurely, their respiratory systems severely underdeveloped.

Whatever the reason for the need for mechanical ventilation, the Respiratory Care Center’s goal is to eliminate that need.

This year, the center has been home to more pediatric patients than usual, and from May until October, at least nine of those patients were discharged, often returning to a home environment after successfully being weaned from the ventilator.

Because of this phenomenal success, we wanted to take the opportunity to tell the story of how we care for our pediatric patients.

In this issue of the inaugural Little Lungs magazine, you’ll learn about our process and our people. You’ll learn how, for example, we deliver high-level clinical care while prioritizing communication and emotional support for parents and guardians.

And you’ll discover how we work together to provide hope to patients like three-year-old Milani, who was discharged home in May of this year.

“It just shocks me how they love my daughter,” her mom, Samantha, said. “They just go above and beyond.”

Stephen A. Estes

President and CEO