After choosing Langley to open its flagship clinic this February, Snore MD is expanding across B.C., including a new store in Walnut Grove.
A recent study suggests 40 per cent of all Canadians will experience sleep problems including apnea in their lifetime. With all sorts of health problems attached to not getting a good night’s sleep, the sleep solutions business is booming.
In fact, the B.C. based Snore MD is growing its number of clinics across Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, Maple Ridge and West Kelowna.
“It’s incredibly rewarding,” says Michael Davis, Snore MD team leader and a registered respiratory therapist. He recalls a man who wandered into their Langley sleep clinic last spring, with sallow skin and baggy eyes, desperate for help with his sleep disorder after having fallen asleep at the wheel.
“He worked long hours and couldn’t get to a health care professional to get help for his exhaustion. After working with us, his life has completely changed.
“He has a new outlook on life, and his wife and even his kids are happier because he’s a rested, positive guy. He comes in all the time and drops off muffins for staff because he’s so grateful.”
Snore MD uses the latest technology and treatments—supervised by its team of respiratory therapists, doctors, and nurses, all experts in sleep disorders—to diagnose and help to solve sleeping issues such as sleep apnea, snoring, restless sleep, and insomnia.
The rapid, dramatic impact Snore MD’s work has led to the expansions following the opening of its flagship Langley sleep apnea clinic last February.
Snore MD also offers a free online sleep test for anyone who feels they may be suffering from a sleep disorder, the most serious being sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can cause breathing to stop repeatedly while sleeping. These breathing pauses or ‘apneas’ can last up to 30 seconds and can happen many times throughout the night, leaving a person feeling tired and lacking motor function.
“Traditionally, sleep apnea was thought of as a male disorder, however, females are just as much at-risk,” said Davis.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, motor vehicle collisions, depression, decreased sexual function, and work-related injuries.
“We have plans to expand more clinics throughout the province. We plan to open a clinic every six weeks for the next two years,” Davis added. “It’s been incredible to know that we can affect so many people’s lives by raising the level of health care standards.”
Unlike most medical clinics, what makes Snore MD unique is that they are open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and an appointment is not needed to walk in and talk to a specialist.
Snore MD’s services can be offered in co-operation with or without a family doctor, as no doctor referral is necessary to attend any of Snore MD’s BC sleep clinics. They also do a lot of follow up with patients as they go through the process of improving their sleep. They don’t just sell someone a CPAP sleep machine and then never speak to them again. They follow up for the next few months, they said. They want to offer long term sleep solutions.
The newest Snore MD is at the Village at Thunderbird Centre, near the IGA. The Langley flagship clinic is located at the Murrayville Shopping Centre.