Debbie Willer

Kerry Babb

Ken Duet

• The “Hospital Opt to Quit Program” is utilizing respiratory therapists to offer brief tobacco cessation counseling to inpatients who want to quit in Debbie Willer’s hospital, and she is recognized for her role in helping to put the program together in this article in North Country Now out of New York State.

• Kerry Babb has thrown his hat into the ring for the Florida House District 78 seat, and his candidacy is covered in this article in the Fort Myers News-Press. Babb, who is running as an independent, is a former member of the Lee Memorial Health System board.

• Donna Hawk explains why her community received an “F” for air quality from the American Lung Association in this article and video on the FOX TV affiliate website out of Springfield, MA. “We’re really the tail end of the air flow in the country, the pollutants that come from the Midwest, and from New York, Pennsylvania, really end up here and affect our air quality,” she was quoted as saying.

• Ken Duet’s department is featured for receiving two great awards in this article in the Houma, LA, Tri-Parish Times & Business News. First up was the AARC’s Quality Respiratory Care Recognition, which the hospital received for the eighth year in a row. Next, the department was named the number one department for pulmonary diagnostics and respiratory care in the state by the Louisiana Society for Respiratory Care. Ken gives his staff all the credit. “There is a great group of therapists here that provide outstanding care,” he was quoted as saying. “They are responsible for us being able to achieve this recognition.”

• Saint Francis Medical Center also receives kudos for earning the AARC’s Quality Respiratory Care Recognition in this article in the Southeast Missourian.