Ventilator-dependent patients get new facility

Ventilator-dependent patients get new facility Olivia Olarte (olivia@khaleejtimes.com) / 27 May 2013 A new facility for ventilator-dependent patients requiring long-term intensive care and rehabilitation outside the hospital has opened in Al Ain. UlherThe ProVita International Medical Centre in Al Ain’s Al Foah district is the second facility in the emirate. The first centre opened in 2010 in Khalifa City A. ProVita was the first in the UAE and the region to offer state-of-the-art long-term intensive care in a non-hospital setting. “Our facilities in Abu Dhabi and now in Al Ain provide exceptional care and rehabilitative services to ventilator-dependent residents who either have been treated within ICU units of hospitals before or even had to go abroad to get the quality care they needed and deserved,” said Andrew Escamilla, CEO of ProVita. The new centre has 50 beds manned by “fully-trained staff with the highest acute care, nursing and rehabilitation credentials,” who will provide care for both paediatric and adult patients from the Emirati community in the Eastern Region. “All of our beds are fully operational … there are no limitations to growing based on patient demand to meet the needs of the local community,” Escamilla told Khaleej Times. ProVita works with Seha hospitals in transferring patients to its care. With the opening of the new centre, some of the patients in Abu Dhabi will be ‘relocating’ to Al Ain to be closer with their families. “One of our first patients here wants a transfer back to Al Ain for this reason,” Escamilla said. Some of the patients cared for at ProVita Abu Dhabi includes those involved in post road traffic accident left with permanent disabling conditions, those who have sustained C1-C4 (cervical) fracture, those with neuromuscular diseases (such as multiple sclerosis, amytropic lateral sclerosis or spinal muscular dystrophy, Guillian Barre Syndrome and Myasthenia Syndrome), and children with congenital disorders in need of ventilation or intensive respiratory support. ProVita aims to enhance a patient’s quality of life, increase their human potential and continually promote normalcy for the patient and their family.   Taylor Scott International