Respiratory Care

Our asthma management team provides an individualized step-by-step approach to managing asthma in adults and children. The mission of these plans is to prevent chronic symptoms, maintain (near) “normal” physiology, maintain normal activity levels, reduce long term-medical costs, provide optimal pharmacology, and to educate our patients while meeting their expectations.

Your Asthma Action Team during your treatment will consist of your physician, certified asthma educators, and respiratory therapists.

Education is the key component of the Asthma Management Action Plan. Through literature, videos, and one-on-one sessions with staff, you will learn topics such as:

• Medication management
• Delivery device instruction
• Peak flow monitoring
• Trigger proofing
• Exercise
• School and sports issues
• Nutrition
• Special situation management: seasonal asthma, cough variant asthma, exercise induced asthma, stress induced asthma, and asthma during pregnancy.

Normally, a minimum of four sessions is recommended, but additional sessions may be necessary to meet an individual’s needs. Each session can last one to two hours, and we encourage family participation.

Session 1 - The first session includes an assessment interview and diagnostic spirometry. In addition, delivery device instruction and medication management will be reviewed.

Our goal of Respiratory Rehabilitation is to get you back to the life you love by restoring the fullest functional capacity possible for patients with chronic lung disease. This involves a comprehensive approach of diagnostic testing, patient education, respiratory therapy, and physical conditioning to minimize the effects of the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with a chronic lung disease, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibrosis, emphysema, or sarcoidosis, we can help. Respiratory rehabilitation is a program that incorporates education and exercise classes that teach you about you lungs, how to exercise or do other activities with less shortness of breath, and how to live better despite your lung condition.

You’ll learn more about topics such as stress management, nutrition, controlled breathing exercises, medication management, and self-care. The exercise classes will help you to be more active with less shortness of breath. Through these exercises you’ll become stronger and feel better.

For more information, call 504.503.6320.

The program is broken down into three phases:
Phase One includes an assessment interview and diagnostic testing.
Phase Two includes six to ten weeks of outpatient therapy. Sessions last between one and two hours and are held three times per week.
Phase Three is all about maintenance. You will participate in supervised exercise, including strength and aerobic training. You can participate in this phase for as long as you want.

A little something extra

We also offer our patients a support group. Better Breathers’ Club is for anyone with a chronic condition, like COPD or asthma, that affects breathing. Meetings are bi-monthly. Call 504.503.6320 for dates and locations.

Ready to quit smoking?

We are here for you. Our free Smoking Cessation Program provides proven counseling and medications to help you quit smoking successfully.

It includes an individualized intake session for each person who enrolls in our counseling program. There are nine weekly classes, with sessions available in the morning and the evening for your convenience. Medications or Nicotine Replacement Therapy typically starts during the second session. Follow-ups and ongoing support is available at various intervals once the initial nine-week period is over to ensure a smoke-free future.

Anyone can - and should - participate in this program.

The free program is available to any Louisiana resident who started smoking prior to September 1, 1988, however a cash discount is available to anyone who wishes to quit.

And yes, it really does work.

All classes are taught by our Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists, meaning the treatments are of the highest quality available. If you have not had lasting success in your previous smoke-free attempts, now is your chance to quit for good, call 504.503.6322.