Pulmonary rehab center now open
JEFFERSON TWP — Normally pulmonary rehabilitation center patients can’t catch their breath, walk very far or even exert themselves at all.
The reasons for their symptoms are many: cancer, lung diseases and reduced physical fitness.
The Butler Rehabilitation Centers’ new pulmonary rehabilitation center at Concordia Lutheran Ministries’ Cabot Campus is designed to help campus residents and patients from surrounding communities improve their health and quality of life.
Nellie Crytzer of Kittanning is a longtime patient who has sarcoidosis, which is the growth of tissue where it shouldn’t be and inflammation of that tissue. About 90 percent of cases involve the lungs.
Crytzer couldn’t breath well or walk far, so two years ago she had an operation to remove some of the tissue, and she has been exercising at the Butler pulmonary rehab office ever since.
“The nice thing is that they don’t make you come in here and do more than you can. They work with you to help you get better,” Crytzer said.
She said she likes the rehab center because the patient gets to know the staff and other patients, and they form support systems.
Kelli Thompson, the center administrator, and Jody Nogan, a respiratory therapist, said they treat patients ages 18 to 97, helping them overcome problems caused by asthma, fibrosis and lung transplants among other conditions.
“We have people who come in wearing oxygen, who can only walk a minute on the treadmill who after working out for a period of weeks get off their oxygen and are walking for 30 minutes,” Nogan said.
Usual treatment ranges from six to 10 weeks, three days a week, and then patients can continue paying their own way for 12 sessions two times a week.
“This therapy helps to decrease hospitalization and lets people reclaim their lives,” Thompson said.
