RC Week 2014 Celebrates the Breath of Life

November 4, 2014

AARC members across the country went out into their hospitals and their communities to celebrate this year’s National Respiratory Care Week. Here are just some of their stories—

Children’s National Medical Center, Pulmonary Diagnostics Department, Washington, DC

We collaborated with our inpatient department to provide educational opportunities for the community and the professionals. This included an information station staffed by therapists from both areas all day in our cafeteria, where we focused on sharing the teaching tools used when working with asthmatics, Passy-Muir valve use and desensitization techniques, a review of airway clearance using the new SmartVest SQL, and intervention techniques to calm and distract patients during complex procedures, provided by our child life specialist. A review of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s guidelines and networks for communicating with other therapists was presented by a director from the foundation. All work and no play makes for a dry week so we had pizza parties, salad bars, and ice cream socials to celebrate the team.—Rosemary Grefe, RRT, RPFT

Morrow County Hospital, Mt. Gilead, OH

We held a “give back” week in which a different fundraiser was held each day, with the proceeds being donated to Flying Horse Farms, which is a camp for children with serious illnesses. This small 13-bed critical access hospital was able to raise $1050 through the teamwork and dedication of the cardiopulmonary team. We were too busy raising money and awareness to take any pictures but the week was a success in raising money and in forming relationships with the departments that we normally do not have interaction with. Can’t wait for next year!—Leslie A. Dye, RRT

Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC

We had breakfast and lunch daily for the staff. We had seven lectures, which afforded four free CEUs. We highlighted a smoking cessation program for the entire hospital. We had t-shirts for everyone and presentations from numerous vendors of various new equipment.—Zelick Stewartson, RRT

Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence, RI

Respiratory Care Week was an exciting time within our department to reflect upon our past and present, and focus towards our future challenges to improve quality care for all patients. Gail Girard, clinical supervisor, coordinated a showcase with help from the staff. The showcase displayed some of our professional clinical specialties, with a wide range of therapeutic and diagnostic services. The spirit within our department is directed towards making a difference. Many have become an ECMO specialist and many have continued their education. Congratulations to all respiratory therapists that have taken the challenge to higher levels of education; you are truly making a difference on many levels.—Angela Butler, BS, RRT-NPS, CPFT, AE-C

Laurel Business Institute, Uniontown, PA

The RT students at the Laurel Business Institute were able to participate in a local Heart Walk benefiting the American Heart Association and a school health fair where they provided education on asthma, smoking cessation, COPD, and sleep apnea. They ended the week with a celebratory luncheon!—April Butchki, MEd, RRT, CPFT

Royal Inland Hospital, Kamloops BC, Canada

I made a respiratory therapy booth for my hospital.—Alexa Daneluk, BSc, RRT

Midlands Technical College, Columbia, SC

Respiratory care students at Midlands Technical College (MTC) participated in community awareness of our profession and respiratory illnesses. The senior class went to Brooklyn-Cayce (BC) High School and met with the HOSA students. They set up several stations for the students to learn more about what an RT does on a daily basis. Stations included mucous clearance, POX, MDIs, neonatal care, real lungs (healthy and diseased), and an intubation experience. The RT students even created a mock code. It was a wonderful experience for both the BC and MTC students.—Cayce Hendrix, RRT-NPS

Stanford Children’s Hospital, Menlo Park, CA

We have a very talented respiratory therapist who has gone above and beyond in the last three years designing display cases for our hospital. These are great for the kids as there are moving parts to catch their eye. They are also informational for staff and parents to learn about respiratory care.—Heather McKelvy, RRT-NPS

Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT

Our respiratory care students did a wonderful presentation as part of their celebration of Respiratory Care Week. The created a Candyland type map for the different professional opportunities for RTs to take. They highlighted emergency medicine, the ICU, pediatrics, and home care. One student pretended she was a trached patient on a ventilator. She should have won an Oscar for her performance.—Kerry McNiven, MS, RRT

Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, OH

The respiratory therapy students set up a display at the university. They gave out goodies and candy and talked to people about what an RT does and about lung health. We partnered with Southern Ohio Medical Center and they brought their 15 ft. inflatable lungs for the display.—Amy France, RRT

Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL

The respiratory care department celebrated their diversity during Respiratory Care Week, 2014. The team represents 20 different countries of origin! Flags for each country were hung in the department and are proudly displayed here.—Yvonne Lamme, RRT

Kennebec Valley Community College, Fairfield, ME

Students set up a display table that included a respiratory health trivia game. Information was available about various respiratory diseases. A donation jar collected money that will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Northern New England.—Barbara Larsson, MEd, RRT

Newman Regional Health, Emporia, KS

One of my staff got creative and made this eight foot banner to promote our department during Respiratory Care Week. It was displayed in the hospital lobby and looked awesome! We plan to use it when we go out into the community for education projects as well. She took pictures of the staff (all of my staff are on the banner) and designed the layout, took it to Staples and worked with them in getting it done, and then mounted it.—Karen S. Schell, DHSc, RRT-NPS, RRT-SDS, RPFT, RPSGT, AE-C, CTTS

Evans Army Community Hospital, Fort Carson, CO

We set up our display center in the middle of the hospital and started our teaching projects, which were conducted by RTs on staff who described certain disease factors in respiratory that they felt needed to be addressed to the population that we see here at the hospital. In the demonstration we also used one of our PB 840 ventilators to show what we can do to combat patients diagnosed with ARDS.—SSG Dale A. Krizinski, CRT

Specialty Hospital of Washington, Hadley, Washington, DC

Our team had a great celebration. We kicked off the week with several wonderful breakfasts and lunches provided by our vendors. The staff provided a delicious international luncheon to end the week. My team was very surprised with their gift. It was a navy blue hoodie with RESPIRATORY TEAM printed on the front. On the left sleeve is our acronym, STEPP, which stands for S-Strong/educated clinician, T-Team player, E-Effective communication, P-Punctual in time & attendance, P-Professionalism. They, in turn, surprised me with a gift card.—Ricky Williams, RRT

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

The cardiopulmonary science students at East Tennessee State University celebrated Respiratory Care Week by coordinating a 5K called The Lung Run, which helped to raise money for the Midland States Chapter of the American Lung Association. The senior class set up booths in the middle of campus, helping to promote the profession and providing patient education on asthma and COPD. The junior class attended their first respiratory care conference and got to network with other students and therapists from the region.—Kristen McHenry, MS, RRT-ACCS

Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

The Georgia State University undergraduate and graduate RT programs celebrated Respiratory Care Week among each other while promoting health awareness. We kicked off the week by competing in the Georgia Society for Respiratory Care (GSRC) Volleyball Tournament against other RT schools in Georgia. Our school won first place and was able to use the winnings to create a GSRC scholarship fund. To promote lung awareness in the community we hosted a booth with porcine lungs to show the effects of smoking, raised funds for our RT club with a bake sale, sparked the interest of many for our program, and received over 200 signatures for our no-tobacco campaign to support our university’s no smoking on campus policy.—Brittne McKinnon, 2016 class president

Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC

We celebrated by recognizing our employees. They were given a pair of movie passes and we had a prize wheel where they could win gift cards. We had teams play a respiratory care version of Jeopardy. We also provided lots of food and some games for all to take part in during the week. Our therapists are the BEST!—Edward A. Plamer, RRT

Washington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC

The VA Medical Center has a small RT staff that is focused in the ICUs and ER. Candid therapist photos were placed on the medical center’s Facebook page and messages were placed on in-house communications panels. T-shirts were provided, which were worn on Wednesday. Food was a big part of the event. Fancy cupcakes were provided on Monday, breakfast was provided on Tuesday, pizza and wings on Wednesday, Chinese food on Thursday, and box lunches were provided on Friday. A weekend getaway was given to one member of each shift and the pulmonary lab. A few posters were placed, and this partial group photo was taken on Thursday.—Larry Conway, BS, RRT, FAARC

Specialty Hospital of Washington, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC

Providence Hospital, Washington, DC