Advanced Sleep Apnea Care Helps Longtime Sleep Sufferer Rest Easy

As a young man, Lincoln resident David Helm was always tired.

He remembers falling asleep in college classes, despite sitting in the front row trying to make a good impression for professors. Later, he would come home from work, nap for hours, eat dinner and go back to bed. Exhaustion affected nearly every part of his day.

In his 30s, he finally sought help after his wife noticed he sometimes stopped breathing while asleep.

With the help of the Lincoln Memorial Hospital Sleep Disorders Center, a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and treatment with a CPAP machine made a remarkable difference.

“Within days, it was like night and day,” he said. “I felt more energized.”

In 2026, Helm – the principal of Lincoln High School – took the next step, becoming the first patient at LMH to benefit from a life-changing procedure that’s now available to local residents thanks to a collaboration among LMH, SIU Medicine and Springfield Clinic.

Inspire is an implanted therapy for certain patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Rather than using a mask and hose to provide continuous positive airway pressure, the implanted device stimulates a nerve controlling tongue movement during sleep to help keep the airway open.

While waiting to learn if he was a good candidate for the Inspire procedure, Helm completed additional sleep studies and tried adjustments to his CPAP. He also made significant lifestyle changes, working with the Memorial Wellness Center to lose about 90 pounds.

Helm did his sleep testing at LMH, one of Memorial Health’s accredited sleep centers. Patients have access to both at-home and in-clinic sleep studies. During an overnight sleep study, specially trained staff monitor measurements such as brain waves, muscle tone, oxygen levels, heart rate and breathing.

Under the care of Cindy Moore, MD, an ear, nose, throat physician with SIU Medicine, Helm underwent the DISE evaluation (drug-induced endoscopy) and soon learned he qualified for the Inspire implant, which Dr. Moore also would conduct.  When the day of his implant arrived, Helm wasn’t nervous.

“I was excited. I was ready to go,” he said.

Also led by Dr. Moore, David’s surgical procedure was a success, and he was even able to return to work the next day. Within weeks, he was back to a normal routine, even swimming laps.

After the implant healed, his Inspire device was activated by Elena Winters, APRN, CNP, with Pulmonary Diseases and Sleep Medicine at Springfield Clinic. Now, instead of putting on a CPAP mask and connecting to a machine when he sleeps, Helm can turn on his implanted device.

“Not wearing the hose is a huge deal,” he said. “I’m not connected to a wall. It’s brilliant.”

Advanced care without leaving home

Helm appreciated having the procedure at LMH. He offers this encouragement to other Lincoln-area patients who may need specialized care.

“If you are from Lincoln, ask if it can be done in Lincoln,” he said.

That’s exactly the question Todd Mourning wants patients to ask their healthcare professionals as LMH continues to look for opportunities to expand services locally.

“Our goal is to keep people local,” Mourning said. He’s the LMH director of clinical operations. “If we can offer a procedure safely here, we want to be able to do that. We are always working to bring top medical care here so patients can stay closer to home.”

That local access matters at a 25-bed critical access hospital serving Lincoln and surrounding communities. LMH provides inpatient and outpatient care that includes sleep studies, respiratory services and surgery.

Helm’s advice to others struggling with sleep apnea is straightforward.

“If you have the option to pursue better sleep, do it,” he said. “Regardless of the CPAP or Inspire, if you think you have sleep apnea, do everything you can to improve your sleep.”

For him, that pursuit of a restful night for him (and his wife) has come full circle – thanks to his hometown hospital.

Photo credit for surgery: SIU Medicine.