Dale Vogelbach and
Serena Burdette from the respiratory care department at Women and Children’s Hospital received a phone call from the mother of a child who had been in Women and Children’s the previous week. They were from Ohio and visiting relatives in West Virginia.
The child had a tracheostomy tube and required regular suctioning.
While in the hospital, the mother brought a home suctioning machine to use while caring for her child. However, shortly after being discharged, the suction machine would not work.
Their homecare company in Ohio could not provide any timely help, so Vogelbach and Burdette started making phone calls. They were able to find a local company willing to loan the family a portable suction machine to use.
Without the help of Vogelbach and Burdette, not only would this family not have been able to return home, but probably would have had to return to the hospital for a second time on vacation to get the care this
child needed.