MT. PLEASANT—The Sanpete Valley Hospital is expanding its sleep labs to two rooms, according to hospital spokesperson Shauna Watts. The work is expected to be completed by the end of April and the lab will open for patient use at that time.
Sleep Lab Center manager Connie Hatch said, “I am so excited to get this second room into use. It will provide us the increased opportunity to better serve our patients in a more efficient and timely manner than before. Many people in our community need our help to get their sleep disorders diagnosed and treated, and this will decrease their wait time tremendously.”
The sleep rooms will be approximately 10 feet by 12 feet, with an ADA bathroom attached. This will allow for two studies per night to be conducted, while decreasing wait times for sleep study appointments, Watts said. Additionally, the sleep study lab will have longer beds to accommodate taller patients, with the head of the beds being adjustable for patients with special needs.
The addition of this room will give us a complete Sleep Center Suite for our AASM Accredited Sleep Center, said Hatch. The lab will be staffed by three full-time registered polysomnographic technologists. They are Connie Hatch, BS RPSGT; Christine Poole, RPSGT; and Heather Johansen, RPSGT. Together they have a combined experience of 35 years at Intermountain Sanpete Valley Hospital.
A sleep lab is used for polysomnography, also called a sleep study, which is a comprehensive test used to diagnose sleep disorders. Polysomnography records a patient’s brain waves, the oxygen level in their blood, their heart rate and breathing, as well as eye and leg movements, muscle tone and respiratory effort. The study can help diagnose disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome, narcolepsy, periodic limb movement disorder, sleepwalking, sleep talking and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, among others.
Sanpete Valley Hospital is part of Intermountain Healthcare, which is a Utah-based not-for-profit healthcare system.
