Ventilator Weaning Program
Offered at McLaren Bay Special Care
McLaren Bay Special Care’s four-bed ventilator weaning unit is one of a few facilities in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Pulmonologists Shahzad Manawar, M.D. and Saad Ahmad, M.D. are the Medical Directors who oversee the ventilator program which is customized for each individual patient according to established protocols.
Ventilators are essential when patients cannot breathe on their own. Most patients are removed from the ventilator within hours or days. However, in some cases, the patient’s condition doesn’t permit rapid weaning off the ventilator.
“Patients are ventilated for longer periods of time while being treated for their primary medical condition,” says Kirt Moody, Manager, Respiratory Care and Sleep Center at McLaren Bay Region. But, Moody explains, it’s not without risks, especially in long-term use. “The longer a patient is on a ventilator, the more at risk they are to develop an infection or other pulmonary infection.”
The ventilator weaning program includes an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other specialized staff such as speech language pathologists.