GRMC Celebrates its Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program during Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week

(Monday, March 14, 2022; Dededo, Guam) Guam Regional Medical City (GRMC) is celebrating its Pulmonary Rehabilitation Clinic during Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week, from March 13 – 19. This year’s theme is “Improving life, one breath at a time.” GRMC’s Pulmonary Rehab Program has been helping patients accomplish this goal since it opened in October 2020.

GRMC’s Pulmonary Rehab Program is under the direction of Pulmonologist Dr. Michael Agustin and run by Ms. Ann Cruz, Rehabilitation Manager.  The Pulmonary Rehab Program uses a multidisciplinary team of professionals that includes Physical Therapists, Respiratory Therapists, and Medical Assistants. “The multidisciplinary approach at GRMC’s Pulmonary Rehab Program is similar to that of a tertiary US hospital Pulmonary rehab unit, except that ours is a ‘one-stop shop’ inside of our facility,” explained Dr. Agustin, “Having it all in one facility promotes real-time feedback to the physician and access to an acute care setting in case of an emergency. There is also the uninterrupted continuation of care from hospital discharge or surgery to Pulmonary Rehab.”

Another key benefit of GRMC’s Pulmonary Rehab Program is that its Physical Therapists are certified to perform Pulmonary Rehab care. Screening and pre-testing to qualify for the Pulmonary Rehab Program are performed by the Pulmonary Lab. Once a patient qualifies to participate in the clinic, the medical assistants take over the logistics of scheduling patients for the clinic and follow-up appointments.

“I would like to personally acknowledge the ground crew who make the weekly Pulmo Rehab Program possible, despite the challenges we’ve faced from COVID,” said Agustin, “More so, they have worked with GRMC’s most severe COVID cases and other chronic respiratory cases and seen them recover their functionality.”

Providers who would like their patients to participate in GRMC’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program can download a referral form from the GRMC website at www.grmc.gu and email it to specialty.outpatient@localhost or contact the GRMC Referrals Center at  (671) 645-5500, extension 4952/5591.