After a successful pilot program, Gordon Trucking has chosen Sleep HealthCenters to provide a nationwide comprehensive sleep apnea screening and treatment program. The program is designed to enhance roadway safety by improving the health of commercial drivers through education, diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. Gordon Trucking’s driver screening program is expected to begin before the end of the year.
“Gordon has a tradition of long-term safety efforts, and we are committed to offering our drivers a sophisticated sleep apnea screening program.” says Scott Manthey, vice president of safety for Gordon Trucking. “We are confident that Sleep HealthCenters has the expertise to provide us with the most comprehensive screening program available to keep our drivers and roadways safe.”
Sleep HealthCenters works with a network of affiliated sleep medicine providers to serve drivers around the country, providing employees with minimal wait times for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care. “Healthy sleep is vital to employee wellness and safety, but for trucking companies, it can be difficult to implement a program for employees who live in different places, are constantly moving around the country, have different primary care physicians and maybe even different health insurance coverage,” says Dr. Lawrence Epstein, chief medical officer at Sleep HealthCenters, based in Brighton, Mass.
Sleep HealthCenters currently runs 26 facilities in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and is affiliated with academic medical institutions such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, both in Boston. “Our network of sleep specialists and respiratory therapists help the patient select an appropriate treatment and monitor their response to therapy.” says Paul Valentine, Sleep HealthCenters’ chief executive officer.
Valentine says Sleep HealthCenters’ proprietary Web-based system, PAPCenter, allows it to monitor each patient’s device utilization even though they may see different therapists while they are on the road in different states. “All therapists are licensed in the state in which they treat Gordon Trucking patients, and the clinical standards of care are standardized throughout the program to ensure the patient receives the highest level of reliable and predictable service,” he says.
