• Our Mission

    Our Mission

    Our mission at PCD Smiles is to bring smiles to hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia, no mater their age; through the gift of a cheer package. Currently serving only The United States and Canada.
  • Request Cheer Package

    Request Cheer Package

    Know of a hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia patient? Please visit our “Request a Cheer Package” link and fill out our secured form to submit them for a cheer package today!
  • Donations

    Donations

    Our cheer package program runs on donations. To see how you can help PCD Smiles, visit our donations section today!
  • The PCD Artist Project is a collaborative effort by artist to raise awareness for PCD & support the PCD Smiles cheer package program. Visit our exhibits today!

In the United States respiratory care may only be provided by a licensed physician or a licensed medical professional under the direction of a licensed physician or nurse practitioner. If you think that you have a respiratory condition or have been diagnosed with a respiratory condition speak with your physician regarding all respiratory care. You may be referred to another licensed medical professional for respiratory evaluation, treatment, and patient education. This professional will most likely be a licensed respiratory therapist or another licensed pulmonary specialist, physician or nurse practitioner.

Licensed respiratory therapist are responsible for a whole host of things including evaluation of respiratory health. Licensed respiratory therapist can provide limited treatment of certain pulmonary conditions and or bronchopulmonary hygiene under the direction of a licensed physician or nurse practitioner. Licensed respiratory therapist in the United States are responsible for helping patients and families by providing consumer education on proper equipment use, proper medication administration, proper gas administration, adaptive and strengthening exercises, and procedures used to clear the airways (airway clearance techniques). If you are not receiving your airway clearance training from a licensed respiratory therapist there can be real longterm health consequences. Ask your PCD clinic or pulmonary clinic for a respiratory therapist consultation for education today. If your clinic doesn’t have a dedicated team in charge of airway clearance training and other respiratory therapy services they can direct you to their contracted agency or clinic that they use to provide these services for their respiratory patients.

Improperly applying airway clearance to any disease can have devastating consequences on disease progression for some individuals. As we enter the more in the moment breaking news era of consumers, more and more patients are attending scientific conferences and applying what they hear at such conferences without the education, medical training, background and licensure requirements put in place to protect public health and safety. A lot of our Fun Physio ideas are intended for educational and informational purposes for physicians and other licensed medical professionals to help with outside of the box ideas to gain compliance of airway clearance prescriptions and the patient, no matter their age. All our Fun Physio ideas are solely meant to be discussed with your prescribing physician. Never alter, try, or change any airway clearance regiment without the direct instructions from your physician. And most of all, never try them without proper training and instruction of a licensed medical professional.

Turn treatment-time into play-time has been shown to be an effective way to boost compliance to the rigorous airway clearance regiments found in PCD care. If you’re struggling to get your child engaged with their airway clearance techniques try turning airway clearance into play, it could help lessen the burden of persuading your child to do their treatments. If you’re an adult, remember that the best airway clearance technique for you is the one that you will actually do. There are tons of airway clearance techniques and tons of outside the box ideas as well. Experiment today with the help of your clinic’s respiratory therapist team and put the fun back into your life. Remember airway hygiene is an important part of primary ciliary dyskinesia care.

Join our Facebook group Turtle Talk Café today, click here.

We have several ways that you can donate to PCD Smiles;

- Visit Smile E. Turtle's Amazon Wishlist

- For more information on how you can donate, please visit our "Donation" page to check out our "Do & Don't policies.

- Or sponsor a PCD Smiles cheer package today!

- To shop for your “Official” turtle care ribbon gear today, visit PCD Style or Smile E. Cove

Thank you for your consideration!

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