Bethany Hartz

Matt Hill

Julie Humphries

• Respiratory therapists at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences are credited for the integral role they play in the NICU in this article and video on the NBC-TV affiliate website out of Little Rock. Bethany Hartz sums up what it’s like to work with these tiny patients: “It’s a very neat, neat career to help them in their first days of life, to just help them be able to breathe on their own.” Dr. Ashley Ross says respiratory therapists are critical to the mechanical ventilation many of these children need to survive. “I couldn’t do that without a respiratory therapist,” he was quoted as saying.

• Christy Hartman has been with her Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim, CA, since its inception, and she was there last month as well when all of the patients were moved to a brand new facility. “The building grew up, and we grew with it,” she was quoted as saying in this article in the Orange County Register.

• Matt Hill covers lots of bases on dealing with smoky air from local wildfires in this article and video on the KPAX-TV website out of Kalispell, MT. Matt warns home oxygen patients not to change their oxygen settings without first consulting their doctor, advises CPAP patients to use a HEPA filter while the smoke is around, and suggests even healthy people watch out for symptoms that could be caused by the smoke, such as headaches and tiredness. “It is something to be aware of — you may be feeling under the weather because it’s smoky and you’re breathing that in.”

• Smoke from those same wildfires took center stage on KFBB-TV in Great Falls, MT, as well, and Julie Humphries was one of the go-to people for this article and video on how to handle the health effects. Julie advised asthma patients to be especially careful, and went over some of the medications people use for respiratory conditions, such as inhalers and nebulizers.