Respiratory & Airway Care
Support at home for children who depend on a tracheostomy, ventilator, oxygen or airway clearance.
Overview
What This Service Includes
When a child's breathing depends on equipment, the whole household learns to listen differently. Respiratory and airway care supports children who use a tracheostomy, a ventilator, oxygen or airway clearance routines, with care provided at home in line with the child's physician orders. It is close attention, steady routines, and someone alongside the family who knows what a change in breathing can mean.
- Care at home for children whose breathing or airway needs ongoing support.
- Support for tracheostomy care, ventilator use, oxygen and airway clearance routines as ordered.
- Close observation of a child's breathing and comfort across the day.
- Partnership with the family and the child's medical team around the airway plan of care.
Who it is for
Who This May Help
Situations where families often ask about this kind of care. None of them establishes that a child needs it — that comes from their physician.
- A child may have a tracheostomy that needs daily care and attention.
- Some children use a ventilator or other breathing support at home.
- A child may need supplemental oxygen as part of their daily routine.
- Some children need help clearing secretions or keeping the airway open.
- A child may have a lung condition that makes breathing effortful or unpredictable.
Care at home
Common Tasks and Support Provided
What care may involve day to day, always following your child’s physician-ordered plan of care.
- Watching a child's breathing, color, effort and comfort, and responding to changes as ordered.
- Supporting tracheostomy, ventilator and oxygen equipment in line with the plan of care.
- Assisting with suctioning and airway clearance routines as the physician has ordered.
- Keeping supplies and equipment ready and in order so the routine holds together.
- Communicating clearly with parents and the child's medical team about what is happening at home.
Getting started
How In-Home Care Works
You do not need paperwork ready, and you do not need to know whether your child qualifies before you call.
- 1
You reach out
Call us, or request a screening online. You do not need paperwork ready, and you do not need to know whether your child qualifies.
- 2
We talk with you
A member of our team talks through your child's needs, your Medicaid situation, where you are in Georgia, and whether your child currently has a provider.
- 3
Nurse intake
If it looks like we may be able to help, a nurse meets with you and your family to complete the intake documentation together.
- 4
Submission to Medicaid
The GAPP request is submitted for review. This is the point at which the decision moves to Georgia Medicaid.
- 5
The decision, then care
Georgia Medicaid reviews the request. If services are approved, we work with you to begin care at home.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Our child came home with a trach. What does support at home look like?
It centers on the routines your child's physician has ordered — trach care, suctioning, equipment checks — and on close attention to how your child is breathing across the day. Much of it is watching carefully and keeping the routine steady so small changes are noticed early.
Do parents still need to learn the equipment?
Most families do learn their child's equipment, and hospital teams usually begin that teaching before discharge. Care at home is meant to support and reinforce that learning, so parents feel more confident rather than less involved.
What happens if our child's breathing changes?
Changes are responded to according to the child's plan of care and physician orders, and the child's medical team is kept informed. Every family should also have emergency instructions from their child's physician, and those instructions always come first.
Who supplies the equipment and supplies?
Equipment and supplies typically come through a durable medical equipment provider arranged with the child's medical team, not from the home care agency. Care at home works with whatever equipment your child has been prescribed.
Related guides and resources
- A Parent's Guide to Spinal Cord Injury in Children
Damage to the spinal cord that interrupts signals between the brain and the body below the level of injury.
- A Parent's Guide to Muscular Dystrophy in Children
A group of inherited conditions in which muscle strength changes over time, affecting movement and sometimes breathing.
- Your Guide to the Georgia Pediatric Program
What GAPP is, who it serves, how requests are reviewed, and how to start a conversation.
- The Parent Caregiver Pathway
What the parent caregiver route involves, and why it is not available to every family.
About this information
This page is general information for families, written in plain language by the WeLIVE Healthcare team. It is not medical advice and does not replace the judgment of your child’s physician, who knows your child. Always talk with your child’s care team about their specific needs.
Let's Build the Right Care Plan for Your Child.
Tell us a little about your child and our team will follow up to talk through what this care could look like at home.
Requesting a screening is not an application for Medicaid and does not determine eligibility.