The Northern Vermont Center for Sleep Disorders welcomes a new staff member. Innocent C. Ezenwa, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine and is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Dr. Ezenwa joins Veronika Jedlovszky, MD and David Alsobrook, MD. Dr. Jedlovszky is a pulmonologist and the medical director of the nationally accredited lab.
“We are all very excited about our new partner and the experience he is bringing to us,” Dr. Jedlovszky said. “We are glad to be able to offer more accessibility for the sleep lab and introduce pediatric sleep medicine!”
Dr. Ezenwa is surprised and humbled by the welcome and support he has received from his colleagues in the sleep lab and throughout the hospital since he arrived on August 1.
“I couldn't work with a better group of people,” he said. “It's like one family. That means a lot to me.” In addition, he said he is impressed by how much his colleagues really care about their patients.
Joining Dr. Ezenwa in his new life in the Northeast Kingdom are his wife, Chinelo, and their three children. “We love it here,” he said. “We love the country and living close to nature.”
A native of Nigeria, Dr. Ezenwa earned his doctorate's degree from the University of Benin School of Medicine in Benin-city, Nigeria. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada. In addition, he completed a clinical fellowship in Sleep Medicine from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Sleep medicine is a young and evolving field,” Dr. Ezenwa said. “We spend a third of our lives asleep so we need to understand it.”
The United States is a sleep deprived society, and the problem is getting worse. The U.S. has passed Japan and is now number one in the world in sleep deprivation. It has the longest work hours and least vacation of any country on earth. Only 35% of adults sleep the recommended eight hours per night.
Sleep deprivation has serious consequences. Mortality rates are higher in sleep deprived individuals. At least 100,000 highway crashes per year have been attributed to driving while sleepy….and nearly two thirds of adults admit to driving while drowsy. Well over half of school children suffer from sleep deprivation and there is a correlation between sleep deprivation and poor school performance.
His interest in Sleep Medicine was kindled during his internship year. “I will never forget my first night call as an intern when I was asked to assess a 45year old male who had a gall bladder surgery performed earlier in the day under general anesthesia,” Dr. Ezenwa said. “He was found asleep with very loud snoring, unarouseable, and in impending respiratory arrest. His daughter informed us that he snores chronically and he sometimes stopped breathing when sleeping, even while watching television at home. His situation was treated as consistent with undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. He was placed on BIPAP and six hours later he was fully interactive and ate his dinner. He was subsequently diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea with sleep study after discharge.”
Once treated the patient's life underwent an amazing transformation. No longer was he always sleepy, and lacked energy. It gave him an entire new outlook on life and for the future.
“This was a real eye-opener for me,” Dr. Ezenwa said. Seeing the profound impact that the lack of sleep could have on a person's life convinced him he wanted to practice sleep medicine.
Sleep disorders come in many forms and affect people in every age group.
Among the many sleep disorders are disruptive snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, bed-wetting, restless legs, nightmares, narcolepsy, sleepwalking, and many more. Sleep disorders can impact the lives of people ranging from toddlers to the elderly.
The solution isn't sleeping pills, Dr. Ezenwa said. They typically just cover up the problem, but do little to resolve them. He compares his work of finding the underlying cause of a sleep disorder to that of a detective trying to solve a crime. No stone is left unturned in their search for clues. Most people who seek help in the sleep lab take part in an overnight sleep study in which various vital signs are recorded and then analyzed. If the study detects a sleep disorder the doctors work with the patients to develop a treatment plan.
Some patients have amazing results, Dr. Ezenwa said. A good night's sleep can mean the difference between struggling to stay awake all day and facing the world with energy and enthusiasm.