Sleep disorders often go undiagnosed for years, especially in rural communities like Lamb County, where patients may not immediately connect symptoms like fatigue or snoring to a real medical condition. The Lamb Sleep Center is working to fix that by expanding its diagnostic sleep services for patients across the region.
The Lamb Sleep Center, operated by Lamb Healthcare Center, provides sleep testing and evaluations for many potential conditions, including sleep apnea and narcolepsy. According to the Lamb Healthcare Center’s website, its goal is to serve the residents of Lamb County and the surrounding communities. Clinical Di- rector Francis Leal also confirmed that the original sleep center’s location was chosen to further serve this goal.
“Our original location was to provide sleep medicine or sleep diagnostics for the surrounding communities, but also to benefit the rural Hospital, just to be connected and be in partnership with the hospital,” said Leal.
Originally brought in as a sleep technician, Leal has been Clinical Director of the Lamb Sleep Center for a year and a half now. Outside of the Lamb Sleep Center, Leal has worked in healthcare for more than 20 years and spent 12 of those years working in the sleep sector.
The center has also recently expanded its Lubbock operations with a second facility, which was recently opened at 416 Frankford Ave. This decision was made after the center’s unanticipated growth demanded more space to expand testing capacity and reduce patient wait times.
The new location’s capacity is nearly three times larger, with enough room to add 17 beds to the original facility’s six. Although the new center is currently reserved for sleep studies, Leal said that they plan to eventually move all services to the new location.
“I don’t believe that we plan to keep both locations, but it is the goal to have a completely full- service sleep center also in one location,” said Leal.
While the Lamb Sleep Center offers specialty sleep studies, its primary focus is diagnosing sleep disorders through overnight sleep studies. During these studies, patients will stay overnight while technicians monitor their breathing patterns, oxygen levels, and other factors that affect sleep to identify disruptions in their sleep cycles.
In addition to overnight studies, the Lamb Sleep Center also offers testing options that can be taken at home for patients who do not need or want to remain overnight. According to Leal, this is intended to help make patients more comfortable, since not everyone coming in may prefer sleeping at a facility overnight.
“Patients may feel more comfortable doing their sleep studies at home, so we do have a device that you’re welcome to take home. We configure the device’s patient information, show you how to use it, you’ll take it home, use it in the comfort of your own home overnight. Bring it back the very next day, we download the data and submit that for interpretation,” said Leal.
Although demands for sleep testing are increasing, many people who do have sleeping disorders won’t ever be tested. According to a 2024 study by the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA), 60% of people with sleep problems do not seek help. Leal says this is mostly because people write off symptoms as normal and adjust to them over time. “People are like, I don’t have any problem sleeping, but sometimes we just get so used to it. And some patients are so busy that they don’t realize,” said Leal, adding that many older people equate it to just another part of getting older.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), between 50 and 70 million Americans have sleep disorders. Some general symptoms of sleep disorders can include snoring, daytime sleepiness, waking up with headaches or dry mouth, waking up to use the restroom multiple times a night, and difficulty maintaining sleep.
With their new location now open and accepting new patients, Leal said she understands how important accessible healthcare is in the area and that they are very happy to provide it to residents of Lamb County.
For any questions or to schedule an appointment, call the Lamb Sleep Center at 806-749-6588 or visit their website at lambhc.org.