Breath of Life - A Caregiver's Guide to Home Tracheostomy Care

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"Breath of Life - A Caregiver's Guide to Home Tracehostomy Care" is a half hour patient-education program designed to help parents and caregiver's gain confidence in their abilities to take care of the airway-compromised child. The Executive Producer of this program, Matt Dragovits, has firsthand experience with tracheostomies. His daughter, Elizabeth was diagnosed at 2 months of age with both Laryngomalasia and Tracheal Stenosis; two conditions that necessitated the need for a trach. After the surgery was performed, he and his wife, Melanie, realized very quickly that there was a significant a of care and training that was required to properly maintain their daughter's airway to prevent infection or complications. The learning process had its fair share of stress. The list of equipment, supplies, and procedures seemed a bit overwhelming at first. Both Matt and Melanie were afraid that they might miss or forget something and that the direct result would be irreparable damage to their child. However, in pretty short order, a routine system of care was established, and over time an acceptable level of comfort was achieved. Matt's wife, Melanie felt a very strong need to share this information with other parents to help improve their level of comfort while taking care of their child with special needs. She understood the fears and anxiety that this situation places on a mother and she wanted to help relieve some of the stress. It was at this point that she decided to take the initiative and work with her husband's existing video production company to create a comprehensive training program that addressed a mother's major concerns. While this video won't correct your child's situation, or require you to be any less vigilant, it does provide you with a quality educational resource that you can reference very easily to refresh your memory on multiple issues related to tracheostomy care in the home. Topics include: Suctioning, Humidity, Cleaning the Stoma, Trach Ties, Trach Change, SIgns of Distress, Travel Kit, and Tips. The program was developed with the assistance of the American Association for Respiratory Care as well as nationally recognized registered respiratory therapists specializing in neo-natal pediatric care. Please be sure to check with your care provider for advice or guidance specific to your case.