Tag Archives: kitsap county health department

The Kitsap County Health Department Should Stop Playing Around and give Spirometry Tests

““I think the general public is not clear what public health does,” Lindquist said.”

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/aug/30/kitsap-health-district-tests-name-change/

Perhaps that is because the public health department does not seem to know what their job is.

It’s kind of confusing when our health department spends public money to teach one small ethnic group how to get assistance in our area and how to speak English yet refused to give Spirometry tests to the public every time I asked.

The fact is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and our own public funded health department doesn’t seem to notice that early detection could cut that rate by half – or more.

Our PUBLIC FUNDED health department refused to give early detection Spirometry testing for a disease rapidly increasing and expected to become the 3rd leading cause of death by 2020.

COPD kills across the ethnic board and includes ALL ethnic backgrounds.

Funny thing – here in Kitsap County the health department chose to spend money on teaching English to only one small ethnic group until they ran out of public funds.

Change the Kitsap County Health Department name? Why?

Dr. Lindquist, serve the county…all of us… and think of ways to offer Spirometry testing to the public across all ethnic backgrounds, English speaking or not, for early COPD) detection.

November is COPD Month. Worldwide, Wednesday, 17 November is COPD Day. What does Dr. Lindquist have in mind to do for the public?

Please.

Dr. Lindquist, haven’t you watched enough COPDers do the long slow smother knowing a simple, inexpensive Spirometry test for early detection could save future lives and millions of dollars?

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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Sleep Apnea BiPap/CPap Distilled Water Clog Lungs? Update

Update:

My husband called the KCHD this morning. They recommended Twiss Analytical Incorporated in Poulsbo as the only company in our area to analyze water. My husband called and left a message.
Later Tom Maziarz of Twiss returned the call and I explained my concerns. Tom brought up a couple of points where contamination could have occurred.

• Filters
• The inside of the distilled water container itself might not have been sterilized
• Distilled water does not mean sterilized water

According to the company who services the BiPap, the filter hasn’t been changed enough.

When the BiPap/CPap is turned on the air from the room is carried from the room air through the filter into the short hose from the machine to the water humidifier then out the tubing the facemask for the Sleep Apnea patient to inhale.

If the filters are clogged with dust and debris, that is carried into the patient’s lungs.

I did not change filters until I saw dirt on the white filter…sometimes a couple months from the last filter change and did not order anything unless I needed it. Regards the filter, I had to see visible dirt before replacing it. Yes, Medicare paid for it, but thrifty taxpayers don’t get what isn’t needed. In six or seven years, this humidifier is only the second.
I poured the remaining humidifier water into the boiled and sterilized glass jar (lid too) as Mr. Maziarz suggested and Chuck drove the items to Poulsbo for testing.

Am I overreacting to the strange white blobs in water I inhale? Maybe.
I’ll have the preliminary results Friday…

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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Sleep Apnea Patient Wants To Know…

“For treatment of sleep apnea, patients using CPAP machines that have a humidifier are instructed to use distilled water so they do not inhale any impurities from non-purified water.”

Many of us use the CPAP, or as I do, the BiPap to allow us to sleep and keep our airway open.
I have been using distilled water dated February 2005…clearly out of date but didn’t worry about it until recently when I again found a white’ish glob in the water. It is the end of the bottle but I’ve got three or four more sealed distilled bottles just like the last one.

I have been using the out of date distilled water in my BiPap humidifier and found white globs floating around in it. I cloroxed and washed the humidifier. tubes and mask the first time, then threw away the remains of the gallon container

A few days ago I emptied the remains of the second distilled water gallon jug and saw a small glob drop into the humidifier.

I pulled out the remaining sealed distilled water jugs but cannot see through the rough plastic to be sure the water is clear.
The expiration dates of the bottles are February 2005. I will not use them, but intend to call the Kitsap County Health Department. I hope that either they or someone else can analyze the water in the sealed containers to be sure that a sealed container labeled Distilled’ is still good.

The water and glob in my humidifier needs to be analyzed as well…I want to know what I have been inhaling the past few months.

A couple of questions:
1. How many, if any, Sleep Apnea folks have experienced the same thing just described?
2. How many of us use tap water, not distilled water in the humidifier?

Sleep Apnea folks, stay alert and aware of what goes into your humidifier. The lungs you save may well be your own.
Tap water could be the solution…I’ll keep you updated.

More later, Sharon O’Hara

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