National Respiratory Care Week 2008: In Your Own Words and Pictures!
November 21, 2008
National Respiratory Care Week drew to a close on October 25, as RTs all across the country wound up their week-long celebration of their profession. We asked you to “show and tell” us what you did, and did you ever! Here are the results, in your own words and pictures—
Northside Hospital Forsyth, Cumming, GA
Lung Health Day! Dr. Mark Wolozin, a cardiologist at our hospital, stopped by to take advantage of the free lung screening. Several physicians and their office staff stopped in for testing as well, along with hospital employees, volunteers, visitors, and the community. The event was very well attended.
We also celebrated with several education events and great food the entire week! Awards were given recognizing the therapists for their hard work and teamwork, and we participated in the annual Atlanta area Respiratory Care Week Volleyball Tournament. It was a wonderful week!—Maureen Wilson
Schuyler Hospital, Montour Falls, NY
We posted a PowerPoint presentation about our department on the hospital intranet server. Not only did we show people what we do (yes, we put pictures of PFTs and SVNs being done), but we also included a picture of each member of our team, along with a little bio on each. We also included our education level and license requirements, which seemed to surprise many people. And of course, we displayed our Quality Respiratory Care Recognition from the AARC. We will update this each year during Respiratory Care Week. Our administrator was very impressed with the presentation and encouraged other departments to follow suit.—Karen Hetrick
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
To celebrate Respiratory Care Week the respiratory care departments at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Hospital united for the 1st Annual Respiratory Care Bowl-A-Thon on Friday, October 17. This fundraising event was a collaborative way for respiratory departments in the Texas Medical Center to express their commitment to fighting lung disease. The Bowl-A-Thon generated $1,000, with proceeds donated to the American Lung Association to aid in their mission of preventing lung disease and promoting lung health through research, advocacy, and education. The event drew more than 26 respiratory care professionals.—RaShaundra Jacobs
Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX
We celebrated with plenty of food everyday for our staff and played Respiratory Bingo, with prizes for many of the winners. Our staff really enjoyed the bingo. We also hosted a bridge event for patients and families so they could learn what we do to help our patients heal. We received a proclamation from the mayor of Houston for The Best Children’s Hospital of 2008 as well.—Richard Nguyen
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, LA
One of our focuses for this year is membership in the AARC. To this end we purchased 71 membership coupons and will have every staff member as a new member or renewed for another year.—Adam K. North
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
Our RTs held two open houses, one for the dayshift and one for the nightshift, giving tours of the department, doing equipment demos (including vents and airway clearance devices), and presenting posters of interventional bronchoscopy techniques and blood gas interpretation. They served hot dogs, snacks, and drinks, and decorated the department in red—all in honor of the Philadelphia Phillies playing in The World Series. The greatest benefit was the positive comments and appreciation given to the staff for the outstanding care they give to our patients.—Margie Pierce
Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, Roswell, NM
We held an open house on Lung Health Day. Information was provided to the public on the respiratory therapy profession and the program here on campus. We also performed flow volume loops, pulse oximetry, and a vital sign assessment on anyone interested. Visitors were given information on keeping their lungs healthy, sleep hygiene, etc.—Gina Buldra
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA
Our respiratory medicine department set up a display table with information about related health issues and smoking cessation, along with picture posters of staff. On Lung Health Day we staffed the table, interacting with the public doing spirometry screening and pulse oximetry, and answering questions.
Our department medical directors provided a catered lunch and visited with the staff. Our newest pulmonologist presented on Interventional Bronchoscopy on Tuesday. We heard another presentation on Thursday about Navigational Bronchoscopy, and had a presentation about Pulmonary Stents on Friday. A BBQ lunch was provided by one of our vendors, who covered “What’s New,” and another pulmonologist treated us to ice cream cone sundaes.
Throughout the week we had our 5th annual RT Trivia Quiz (with prizes), a respiratory vocabulary word search, and new this year, “Broncho Bars”—chocolate bars wrapped with hidden gift certificates for 10% of the staff.—Kathryn Carpenter
Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT
The respiratory department sponsored the American Lung Association’s “Breath Express” interactive teaching van for a visit to the hospital. We ran a basket raffle to raise money for this ALA program that travels the state providing stop smoking and asthma education to students. We were visited by state and local dignitaries as well, and received proclamations from both.—Diane Wood
Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, OH
Our students made cookies and candy and wrapped a pack of goodies for each of the therapists at all of the hospitals where we do clinicals. They also participated in a Bear Health Care Fair where they did spirometry and pulse oximeter screening on the public and other students. They all worked very hard and were very proud to participate in Respiratory Care Week.—Amy France
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark, NJ
We celebrated with activities ranging from educational sessions to a full day seminar. Fun activities were also coordinated, with raffles, gifts, and culinary treats. Posters and banners were displayed in various areas of the medical center to educate and increase awareness of lung health issues. Table tents depicting respiratory health were placed on cafeteria tables to promote the importance of lung health and build awareness of diseases and conditions that adversely affect healthy lungs.
Respiratory care students from Bergen Community College and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s School of Allied Health Professions participated in the week-long activities. Therapists attended the New Jersey Society for Respiratory Care’s shore conference and participated in the state level activities. The one day conference was attended by over 140 participants from various institutions and disciplines. Topics of interest were: Pharmacology and Clinical Application of Inhaled Nitric Oxide, Healthcare Literacy, Cigarettes: Weapons of Mass Destruction, Hemodynamic Monitoring for the Respiratory Care Practitioner, and Prevention and Treatment of Ventilator Induced Lung Injury with High Frequency Jet Ventilation.
Therapists who attended received 5 hours of CRCE as approved by the AARC, and RNs received 5.25 contact hours from the nursing education department. Neonatal ICU administration, under the leadership of Kim DiSantos, RN, nursing director, organized a reception in honor of our respiratory therapists. Along with NICU Nursing Educators Sonia Banang, RN, Susan Russell, RN, and ANM Remedios Bloch, RN, she congratulated the therapists for their merited service.
Robert B. Sigler, RRT, FACHE, director of respiratory and neuro diagnostics, expressed satisfaction over the outcome of this year’s week-long celebration. “Therapists took time to learn and participate in the activities. This was a great opportunity for them to showcase their professional spirit,” he said. “The department is strongly committed to providing the best available clinical expertise to all concerned.”—George Thumpayil
Carteret Community College, Morehead City, NC
Students and faculty placed Respiratory Care Week banners in one of the main buildings to let others know we were celebrating Respiratory Care Week. The students performed basic bedside testing in the college student center and received some media attention. Two of the senior students visited the Health Careers class at Havelock High School. The respiratory students had a wonderful time presenting information about respiratory therapy. They encouraged the students to prepare for college and the program. They took the intubation manikin and equipment and let the health career students practice. All of the students had a great time.—Trisha J. Miller
Genesis Oxygen and Home Medical Equipment Company, New Boston, OH
Respiratory therapists employed by Genesis Oxygen and Home Medical Equipment Company received very special treatment during Respiratory Care Week. Company Vice President Jamie Blair, RRT, decided that it would really be a testimony of exactly how he feels about his staff if he provided a week of dining pleasures from countries around the world. He came up with the following: Mexico—(lunch) fajitas and taco salads; France—(breakfast) omelets and French toast; Ireland—(lunch) shepherds pie and Irish chicken casserole; Canada—(breakfast) scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon/ham, and flapjacks; Italy—(lunch) spaghetti with meatballs and chicken Alfredo.
All the meals were prepared fresh each day and each had its own set of condiments, drinks, and desserts. Each meal was served differently using all sorts of dinnerware and utensils, from aluminum pie pans and canning jars for drinks, red checkered tablecloths, and pine branches and cones for the Canadian breakfast, to the Italian lunch with lace and cloth tablecloths, fine china, stemware, and real silverware collected from other Genesis employees.
This was a true extravaganza that will not soon be forgotten. Jamie created not only the appropriate atmosphere for each country, right down to the music, but also dressed accordingly. His wife Beth and daughter Ashley did the cooking, as Jamie did what he does so well—serve others. That week his respiratory therapists received his full attention, and all expressed their thanks and appreciation for a really special acknowledgement from their own Jamie Blair.—Donna Southworth, RRT
Ochsner West Bank Hospital, Gretna, LA
We had a display in our hospital lobby of various sizes of oxygen tanks dressed up in Halloween costumes with messages regarding oxygen tank safety. It was a big hit.—Tach Parulan
Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, NC
We helped our pulmonary medicine department with a Run for Lungs 5K and held two community lung screens with tests for FVC and FEV1 and distribution of lung health information. We also presented an update on lung disease on the 6 a.m. news and plugged the RC Week activities.
The big event this year, however, was a “Do Not VAP My Vent” contest. Each team in our department decorated a vent in the theme of VAP. We used this as a teaching and awareness event. The vents were placed in the cafeteria with VAP information, and were well received by family/staff/patients/MDs.
We also held a bake sale for our RT scholarship, and staff designed t-shirts that we presented to each member.—Skip Bangley
Franklin Square Hospital Center, Baltimore, MD
WOW, what a week! We had CEU talks every day (total of 7) that revolved around how other departments are affected by our services to them (dieticians, social work, etc.). This was culminated by our state delegate presenting our department with a Governor’s proclamation and a House of Delegates Citation for RC Week.—Edward Garcia
Saint Anthony Memorial Health Centers, Michigan City, IN
Our Respiratory Care Week Committee planned numerous activities. A picture was taken of staff with our Mayor and appeared in our local newspaper with an article about our free lung center education and Better Breathers meetings. Staff member names were entered in a drawing, then entered again every time they participated in one of our RC Week activities, such as our family scrapbook, picture with the mayor, picture for our lobby display, bringing a dish for our carry-in meal, etc. Gifts and gift cards were drawn once a shift for five days. All staff received a mouth to mask oxygen tank key ring.—Shirley Reiser
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Respiratory Care Week was celebrated by the RTs at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester with daily luncheons and educational talks for CEUs. The highlight of the week was a talk given by Dr. Forrest Bird on the Future of Cardiopulmonary Care. This talk was organized by the respiratory care program and opened up to all critical care nurses, physicians, and pharmacists on the critical care team at Mayo. It was also broadcast to the Mayo sites in Jacksonville, FL, and Scottsdale, AZ.—Bryan Wattier
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Lincoln, NE
We celebrated with food and charity. Each day during RC Week we enjoyed snacks ranging from trail mix to ice cream sundaes. One of our day staff RTs came in on two of her days off to cook breakfast for both the day and night crews. We also enjoyed gift baskets.
We held our annual bake sale to raise over $500 for “Winning with Asthma,” a community asthma initiative. We held a Husker football ticket raffle, raising $180 for an American Lung Association summer asthma camp.
I also visited Park Middle School to promote the respiratory care profession, speaking to 29 sixth grade students in my wife’s classroom. The students enjoyed wearing the airway clearance vest and practicing intubations. The kids talked all week about their visit from “Joe the Respiratory Therapist.”—Joe Rush
New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
Our hospital hosted a luncheon for respiratory therapists to celebrate National Respiratory Care Week and acknowledge weaning 600 patients in the Open Heart Unit with utilization of respiratory therapist driven protocols. Over 80% of patients were weaned and extubated within two to three hours.—Felix Khusid
Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX
We hosted our annual seminar on pediatric respiratory care, then presented our Respiratory Excellence Awards and named a Therapist of the Year, Everyday Hero, and Rookie of the Year. A Sputum Bowl competition followed, and the winning team will go to the 2009 Texas Society for Respiratory Care convention to represent the hospital.—Kay Martin
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center, Little Rock, AR
Part of the celebration at UAMS included a visit from the UAMS “Reddie.” Seen in the picture with some of the staff members, Reddie supplied pizza for the staff in recognition of the department’s patient satisfaction scores. Other RC Week activities included free gifts and meals from the hospital, and a chili cook off.—Rena Barker
Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, KS
We celebrated by recognizing our people for years of service and giving out awards for the “OT Workaholics” and “Perfect Attendance.” We also presented some fun awards, such as “Best ET Tube Taper,” the “Black Cloud,” “Fastest Code Blue Runner,” the “Bull’s Eye for ABGs,” “Most Outspoken,” “Best Sense of Humor,” “Most Positive,” and “Most Willing to Help Co-workers.”
We had a fun scavenger hunt as well. One of the staff made a “golden” BAN neb, then left clues for the staff to rescue our Golden Neb from the “Neb BAN-dit.” We also had a pizza party given by our medical director, lunches provided by vendors, and prize drawings. We ended the week with ice cream sundaes!—Debbie Fox
Houston Medical Center, Warner Robins, GA
We had so much fun at our breakfast cooked and served by the nightshift. Imagine coming in to work and being greeted with pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs, and all the trimmings!—Lydia J. Abell
Ridgecrest Regional Hospital, Ridgecrest, CA
We had a wonderful luncheon on Tuesday with chicken parmesan and several varieties of cheesecake. We had decorations for our conference room and gifts of appreciation for everyone, and the RC Week Committee selected one of our own as “Respiratory Care Practitioner of the Year”—Jerry McDaniel, RCP, who has served his country for two out of the last three years in Cuba and Iraq. Jerry is very deserving of this award. We also had a very nice article in the local newspaper, “News Review,” in honor of Respiratory Care Week.—Roger L. Berg
Unity Medical Center, Grafton, ND
We had a “Lunch and Learn” session where the hospital-clinic staff was treated to chili and dessert and learned about new MDIs. We also hand-painted pumpkins and decorated hospital/clinic areas with them. They were prizes at the end of week for the winners of a “Who Knows (nose) It?” contest—a poster board with pictures of staffs’ noses (including part of the eyes and mouth), representing the beginning of breathing!—Nadine Schanilec
Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg, VA
The director and manager cooked breakfast for the whole department, with a 07:30 seating for the night shift and a 09:30 seating for the day shift. Fruit, pastries, juice, breakfast casserole, and pancakes made to order—yummy! The therapists enjoyed having the director and manager cook, serve, and wait on them. We are thankful for all the therapists’ hard work and dedication during the year!—Dianne McKee
College Station Medical Center, College Station, TX
Our department was treated to meals all week, including sandwiches, pasta, pizza, BBQ, cookies, cakes, and an Ice Cream Social to top it off. A large variety of door prizes were given out daily. Topics at informational lunches were HFOV, Pulmonary Fibrosis, and Bipap/CPAP Interfaces. For Lung Health Day on Wednesday, our department held a community service project in the lobby of our facility to educate the public on inhaler usage. Saturday we wrapped things up with our Annual Heart Walk. RTs also decorated the hospital and enjoyed the week of fellowship and reflection on where we were, what we’ve become, and where we are going.—Michael Nibert
Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Lumberton, NC
I appealed to my vendors and physicians to sponsor breakfast and lunch for my staff the entire week. Also, we collected 60 gifts to give out as door prizes during our formal dinner, which included prime rib. We sold raffle tickets and raised $400 for the North Carolina Lung Association. We petitioned the mayor to proclaim the week in the city of Lumberton as RC Week as well.—Claudette McCallum
Lima Memorial Health System, Lima, OH
In honor of National Respiratory Care Week, staff donated $500 to the American Lung Association of the Midland States. A check in that amount was presented on Monday, October 20.
“It was important for us as professionals who see respiratory diseases daily to donate to the ALA,” said Cindy Kimmet, respiratory care manager. “These funds will support asthma education and research to find a cure, and we are proud to be part of that work.”
RTs raised the money by selling Viva Bead bracelets.—Megan May
Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA
Students in the respiratory care program celebrated at two of our major sites, Valley Health Systems and INOVA Loudoun in Northern Virginia.—William O’Neill
Air Products Healthcare, Wilkes Barre, PA
Every staff member was honored with a note of appreciation and a small gift for what they do every day. One of our therapists received a “GEM” (going the extra mile) award for her dedication to providing excellent patient care in the home and her continued support to our organization. Pictured from left to right are Susan Jerlinski, clinical coordinator, Judy Smith, lead RT and award recipient, and Michelle LeValley, clinical manager.—Michelle LeValley
Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT
Hartford Hospital is definitely the place to be for RC Week! The great team of therapists here work together to raise money to support scholarships for respiratory care students. They hold a raffle and a bake sale which brings in nearly $2,000 each year.
During the week the department had educational offerings at lunch, and many of the fantastic vendors provided the staff with breakfast and luncheons. Our new LifeStar helipad was opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. On Lung Health Day, students and faculty from Manchester Community College performed PFTs and pulse oximetry in the cafeteria for four hours.—Geri Bernacki
Cloud County Health Center, Concordia, KS
We gathered peak flows from all our providers and charted them on a poster and had the hospital employees guess which provider was the windiest of all. We also held a hospital-wide peak flow contest and announced the winners at a “coughe break” at the end of the week. This was a lot of fun, and we had great participation.—Kristi Copple
Catawba Valley Community College, Hickory, NC
The CVCC Association of Respiratory Therapy Students hosted the college kick off to a Tobacco Free Campus initiative in conjunction with National Respiratory Care Week and National Lung Health Day. They distributed educational material on smoking cessation, smokeless tobacco dangers, living with asthma and COPD, and respiratory therapy as a profession. The display included healthy and smoker’s lungs and pulse oximetry checks. Pictured, from left to right, are students Wes Montgomery, Lorie Tapp, Marie Jones, Ashley Stonestreet , Angela Brittain, Amy Hefner, and Celeste Weast.—Catherine Bitsche
Northwest Medical Center of Benton County, Bentonville, AR
Staff hosted a display in the cafeteria and showed the AARC’s Life and Breath video. They also held a “blow the biggest bubble” contest for employees throughout the hospital.
Pictured from left to right are, Lori Stobaugh, RRT, Devon Sherwood, CRT, Richard Augustin, RRT, and David Blackmon, RRT, department director.—Lloyd T. Mattmann
Promise Regional Medical Center-Hutchinson, Hutchinson, KS
We performed approximately 175 bedside spirometry tests at a Health and Wellness Expo sponsored by our hospital. Educational and smoking cessation literature was available and well received. Internally, we had pizza parties and a special “interesting fact about your co-workers” game. Therapists are such an eclectic bunch, aren’t they! First prize was an Oakes’ Ventilator Management Reference Guide donated by Draeger Medical. Pictured in the photo, from left to right, are Tommie Westfahl, RT assistant, Theresa Colborn, RRT, Jim McIntire, CRT, Jackie Harvey, RRT and department director, and Randy Stucky, CRT.—Jackie Harvey
Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY
Our Respiratory Care Club had a Respiratory Care Week luncheon coordinated by our club advisor, Mark Hanna. There were three guest speakers: Tina Tillman, Jeff Byrne, and Michael Petrone, who spoke on the expectations and requirements employers have for new graduates. Pictured are, from left to right, bottom row, Shaneeta French (club officer), Tara Daynuah (club officer), Karla Dasilva (club officer), Jose Olivera (club officer), and Jose Quinones (program director); top row, Sherman Bray (club officer), Michael Petrone (director of clinical education/guest speaker), Jeff Byrne (adjunct faculty/guest speaker), and Mark Hanna (faculty/club advisor).—Jose Quinones
Logan Medical Center, Guthrie, OK
Our mayor signed a proclamation declaring RC Week at our facility, and a display table was set up in our hospital’s main hallway with different topics for each day. The displays included poster boards, educational handouts, games to play for fun and prizes, and free gifts. Staff members participated in an educational television “spot” called HealthCheck. This 15 minute spot allowed therapists to talk about lung diseases, different respiratory modalities for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, our Better Breathers Support Group, and what to expect during RC Week.—Dorothy Griffith
Eliot Healthcare Center, Framingham, MA
We celebrated our week by doing PFTs for all employees and some of our COPD patients. At an education booth at the facility, we took pictures of our staff doing their PFTs, and we raffled off a gift basket and played games.—Bernadette Henry-Lucien
Self Regional Healthcare, Greenwood, SC
This will be the sixth year that the department has given the Frank Spoone scholarship to a 2nd year student from Piedmont Tech. Frank Spoone was a NICU therapist who passed away unexpectedly in 2003 after working here for 20+ years. We presented the $500 scholarship during our Respiratory Therapy Dinner, which the pulmonologists provided for us. We also presented our Therapist of the Year Award, which allows the selected therapist to attend the national meeting each year if they choose to. This year we also gave out, for the first time, the John Heydel Scholarship. John Heydel is our retired CEO who began his career as respiratory therapist.
We hosted a 6 CEU class as well, and invited all of the therapists in the upstate area to attend.—Martha Huddelson
Tarrant County College, Fort Worth, TX
My students took some pictures at the clinical site and made a poster to post at our school to promote our profession.—Victor Dellepiane
Abbeville Area Medical Center, Abbeville, SC
We celebrated our therapists with a PowerPoint presentation and breakfast, and ended the week by giving our director, Mack Rolin, RRT, RCP, a Leadership Award for his efforts in building a winning department. In attendance were the RT staff, Dr. Heidi Rodillo, and the CEO of the hospital, Rich Osmus. The entire staff of the hospital participated in our “ooh baby look at you now” contest. Everyone in the department brought in baby pictures, and the rest of the hospital had to match the picture with the therapist/MD/assistant. It was well received and we had a lot of fun.—Pam Lake
Cumberland Medical Center, Crossville, TN
My team went to Cookeville, TN, and ate out at Chili’s. We had a good time and got to know each other and our families outside of work.—David E. Purdy