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Sleep tests move to comfy quarters

Sleep center opens in local hotel

Date published: 12/9/2007

BY JANET MARSHALL

Along with clean sheets and a continental breakfast, some local hotel guests can now get something else: a diagnosis.

Mary Washington Hospital recently signed a contract to rent five rooms at the Massaponax Hampton Inn. Since October, patients have been getting tested for sleep apnea, restless-leg syndrome and other disorders in the comfortable hotel setting.

Terry Enders of Spotsylvania County was one of the center's first patients. Enders had been tested for sleep apnea before, at the hospital's main lab on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg. He said he appreciated the comfort and familiarity of the hotel during his follow-up test.

"It's difficult enough to do a test like this," Enders said. "This is nice."

Putting a sleep lab in a hotel is a new trend, notably among big university-affiliated sleep centers such as those at Duke and Vanderbilt.

"It's about being able to put [patients] in a place where they feel like they're going to be able to get a good night's sleep," said Dianne McKee, manager of the hospital's Sleep Disorders Center.

Many patients will still be seen at the hospital's office-based setting in Fredericksburg. Those who get evaluated in the hotel will have the luxury of watching TV, swimming or checking e-mail (if they've brought along a laptop). In the morning, they can head to the lobby for a free breakfast.

"There's a difference," Enders said of the hotel and the office-based lab. "[The hotel] automatically fits into your comfort zone."

The hospital rented the rooms because of the area's huge demand for sleep testing. Earlier this year, McKee said, patients were waiting up to 12 weeks for an appointment at the hospital's eight-room lab on Princess Anne Street.

A group of local pulmonologists opened a sleep lab this year--Sleep Solutions, based in the office of Pulmonology Associates near Mary Washington Hospital.

Still, a need remained, McKee said. And as the hospital explored its options, expanding into a hotel became the most appealing choice--because of comfort, and because hospital staff could start seeing patients without having to wait for a new lab to be built.

The disorder is commonly diagnosed during sleep testing. People with sleep apnea stop breathing while they sleep, often dozens of times a night. The chief symptoms are snoring and fatigue, and the treatment is a special sleep mask that uses pressurized air to keep the airways open. Terry Enders of Spotsylvania County said he put off getting tested for the disorder, thinking he'd have trouble adjusting to the mask. But his life improved immeasurably after he was diagnosed and got a mask. "I wish I had done this sooner," he said.

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Date published: 12/9/2007