Fairhaven Healthcare Center offers respiratory therapy up to seven days a week for the treatment and management of acute and chronic respiratory disorders.

Our focus is on restoring patients to a better level of function, thus improving their quality of life. Under the direction of the physician, the team consists of respiratory, occupational and physical therapists, nurses and a nutritionist who have experience in rehabilitation individuals with disabling respiratory diseases.

Respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and fibrosis, result in difficulty breathing and a general deconditioning.

Among the items covered during treatment sessions are:

• Normal anatomy and physiology of the lung
• The nature of chronic disabling respiratory disease
• Exercise during periods of health and illness
• Stress reduction and relaxation techniques
• When and how to use oxygen and inhaled medications
• Energy conservation theory and techniques
• Reasons for and treatment of shortness of breath, fatigue and coughing
• Environmental factors: allergy and air pollution
• Nutrition during periods of health and illness

Fairhaven provides respiratory therapies for rehab patients who have undergone tracheotomy procedures. There is often confusion between the terms "tracheotomy" and "tracheostomy", but in general terms they refer to the same thing. The well-respected Mayo Clinic in Cleveland, OH considers the term "tracheotomy" to refer to the surgical procedure of creating an opening in the patient's throat or trachea, while the term "tracheostomy" refers to the opening itself.

Respiratory therapies for such patients including education on new approaches to common tasks, such as eating and speaking. Commonly under the guidance of a speech therapist, individuals are educated about how to communicate and exercise the muscles necessary for speaking and swallowing with a tracheostomy tube.