June 2, 2011

Stories from the Joplin Tornado
The EF5 tornado that hit Joplin, MO, on May 22 had a significant impact on the city’s health care facilities and the respiratory therapists who work at them. Click on the link to read our story plus some heart-wrenching eyewitness reports from RTs who lived through the disaster.

The AARC has activated its Disaster Relief Fund to assist members who experienced losses from the Joplin tornado, as well as those affected by the tornados that struck areas of the southeast earlier this spring. Also today, it's now been opened for Springfield, MA, tornado victims.

Ventilator Adjunct Therapy Protocol Available Now
A new ventilator adjunct therapy protocol has just been posted, submitted by Judy Kochmanski of Our Lady of Lourdes in NY. Take a look and consider how you can put it to work in your facility. If you have a protocol you’d like to share with your fellow AARC members, please submit it via our online submission process.

Info on Drug Financial Assistance Programs Available Here
You are your patients’ best advocate when it comes to their respiratory needs, and now we’ve just posted a new resource on our consumer website, YourLungHealth.Org, designed to help you help them better afford their respiratory medications.

Open Forum Deadline Extended to June 15
The deadline to submit your abstracts for this year’s Open Forum in Tampa has just been extended! You now have till June 15 to get your abstracts in via our Easy Street online submission portal.

30-Minute Medication Delivery Rule Changes May be on the Way
The 30-minute rule on medication delivery may be undergoing changes soon, thanks to actions taken by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices that were, in part, spurred by the AARC.

Enter the AARC Times Photo Contest
AARC Times’ Photo Contest is underway now, so snap some great high resolution shots of your co-workers and/or patients and then submit them via our online submission process. We’re awarding free AARC membership on renewal to all of our winners, and the grand prize winner will see his/her photo on the cover of our Feb. 2012 issue! All photos must be submitted by Sept. 10.

Good Press: AARC Members in the News
This edition includes lots of great newsmakers, including a member who received a $30K grant to study indoor air quality in her local schools, another who has been appointed to a special committee in her city to study ways to balance the city’s budget, and one more who just won the Toronto Marathon.

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