Making National Respiratory Care Week an Event Your Staff Will Remember: How the Spectrum Health Respiratory Care Department Created a Spectacular Week for All!

by Matt Kilroy, BS, RRT; Kathy Alarie, RRT; Todd Smith, BS, RRT; and Theresa Bergquist, BS, RRT

It only comes around once a year, and the resources are plentiful to help managers and directors of respiratory care departments across the country provide a top notch National Respiratory Care Week program/celebration for their staff. At Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, the support staff not only utilized many of the AARC's resources, but also came up with several innovative ideas of their own to make this week special for hardworking and dedicated staff.

We began planning the event in July by laying out some goals:

• Do something unique and special for our staff to show they are greatly appreciated.
• Identify and address the needs of the community by focusing on COPD.
• Educate other allied health professionals about our involvement and our importance in health care.
• Create a unified approach to recruiting high school and college students into the respiratory care profession through public exposure.

We came up with five main events that we thought would accomplish our goals:

• Create a coalition of RTs from various institutions to participate in a two-day Health Expo.
• Hold a CQI and Research Open House.
• Host a "home style" breakfast prepared by the management for the staff.
• Host a staff Arts and Talents Contest.
• Sponsor a special event for the support staff.

West Michigan respiratory care practitioners and students reach out to the community
Last April, we were contacted by the Alliance for Health and asked to participate in an annual Health Expo held in a local mall. The commitment entailed recruiting two or three RTs to man a booth for each of around ten, two-hour shifts during the two days of the Expo. We invited all the RTs in Midwestern Michigan to participate, and fortunately, were able to fill most of the two-hour blocks. The Expo was held the Thursday and Friday before RC Week. Experienced clinical therapists, enthusiastic RT students, and an RT manager all came together to spread the message of good pulmonary health maintenance to the community.

We set up an attractive booth that showcased our profession with posters, brochures, balloons, and a running video of the AARC's "Life and Breath" video. Our table contained information on COPD; smoking cessation; asthma; and respiratory medications, with spacer and inhaler instructions. We also had a couple of pulse oximeters to perform O2 saturations, which proved to be a great way to draw visitors to our table. The high point of the event was when one of the RT students enthusiastically gave a lecture to a group of nursing students who were encouraged by their instructor to attend the health fair. We were very impressed by the depth of knowledge she had on the subject.

Each of the RTs who participated not only received an attractive Spectrum Health polo shirt, they were also given an RT thermos mug ordered from the AARC RC Week Calogue. It was obvious that all participants had a great time.

CQI/Research Open House
We are fortunate to be very involved in research and quality improvement in our department. RC Week was a perfect opportunity to display our efforts and demonstrate to hospital staff and visitors how respiratory therapists are involved in improving health care. Five displays were assembled, covering a research project on alveolar recruitment, a new multidisciplinary tracheostomy team, results of implementing nasal prong CPAP in the NICU, a root cause analysis of nasal septum breakdown in the NICU, and a CQI initiative on ventilator discharge. Visitors also had the opportunity to intubate a mannequin and experience the sensation of breathing on a ventilator. Refreshments were provided, including a popcorn cart.

This was a great opportunity to allow other disciplines to comment on the work we were doing, to have doctors experience how various ventilator modes actually affect breathing, and to hear hospital visitors comment on how their family members were involved in the projects displayed.

"Home style" breakfast cooked by the management for the staff
Everyone knows that food is a great medium for celebration and camaraderie. With this in mind, the support staff decided to share their culinary talents and provide a celebration breakfast for the hungry and hardworking staff respiratory therapists. The group agreed to supply the ingredients and do all the preparation, cooking, serving, and clean up. A menu was devised and a supply and task list was given to each support staff member. We all agreed that the food would be prepared and cooked onsite. We also gave some thought to the best way to arrange our conference room to make it welcoming, yet able to accommodate a large crowd.

On the morning of the breakfast, the bleary-eyed support staff arrived at 5:30 a.m. with skillets, spatulas, and coolers in hand. Donning matching hairnets and aprons, each member began the business of breakfast. There was French toast batter to be made, potatoes to fry, eggs to crack, and coffee to be brewed. By the time the first shifters started to arrive, the delectable aroma of breakfast was wafting down the department hallway. About 90 staff members and our department vice president and medical director savored scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, coffee, and juice. One of the support staff members even held pagers so all could enjoy their meal uninterrupted.

Staff Arts and Talents Contest
Since we are often confronted every day with high treatment loads and other essential work-related responsibilities, many of us know our peers only on a professional level. In order to get to know each other a little better, we decided to organize a staff Arts and Talents Contest during RC Week. A table was placed in the hall of the department for the staff to showcase their work.

We were impressed by the variety of talents possessed by our therapists, which ranged from making stained glass lamps to burning calligraphy letters into wood with a magnify glass. During the week, the staff nominated first, second, and third place winners. On Friday of that week the winners were announced and prizes were awarded. Many commented on how fun this event was. Next year we hope to promote the Contest earlier and get even more participation.

Supporting the support staff
As the ideas for RC Week formed, it was evident that most of the activities were going to be spearheaded by the support staff for the benefit of others: the breakfast was for the staff, the Health Expo was for the general public, and the Research Open House was for interested hospital personnel. With this in mind, the director and manager wanted to organize some form of celebration for those on the support staff as well, to thank them for the many extra hours they spent on preparations for the events.

Support staff meet regularly every three weeks for a business meeting, and it so happened that the Monday of RC Week was one of our usual meeting days. So that evening seemed to be an ideal opportunity to host a social event for the support staff.

Coincidentally, it came to our attention that a perfusionist and an anesthesiologist recently became partners in a local neighborhood restaurant/pub. Since they were respiratory therapists in another life, it seemed appropriate to have our RC Week celebration at their establishment. The only thing we might have done differently was have this celebration on a night other than the one before our 5:30 a.m. breakfast!

Gifts for RC Week
After perusing the catalog from the AARC, and with some consultation, we decided to purchase the retractable ID badge holders for all staff. Additionally, the hospital had budgeted small, but discretionary, funds for every staff member earlier in the year as a retention tool, and we used part of these funds to purchase a gift card from a local merchant for each staff member. This was an unexpected surprise for the staff.

In conclusion
It is a consistent truth that people who feel valued, appreciated, and rewarded for their efforts are more productive, call in sick less often, and have an overall positive attitude. This positive attitude is contagious: it not only infects their coworkers but is reflected onto the patients they serve as well. The managers and directors who repeatedly take advantage of the opportunities that RC Week offer every year to reward hardworking staff would agree that they have had a significant impact on staff retention and moral. At Spectrum Health, we plan to continue celebrating National Respiratory Care Week annually, not only for these and other benefits, but because our staff deserve it!