It Was a Busy Week at St. Mary's in Russellville, AR

by Hal Chestnut, CRTT, BSHS

We didn't know it ahead of time, but our department at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center (SMRMC) in Russellville, AR, was destined to have a computer conversion hit during RC Week last October. Moreover, we were Tenet Health Care's beta site for this installation. The two combined to make for a truly busy and demanding time. But my staff rose to the occasion, accomplishing both with aplomb and alacrity, not only managing the conversion, but celebrating the week by hosting an asthma education class as well.

In terms of RC Week, we began small, and things just sort of snowballed. We obtained the AARC's National Respiratory Care Outreach Kit, contacted Brenda Harrison, our community relations director, and were off and running.

Gaining press coverage
Harrison put me in touch with our local newspaper, The Courier. There I was linked with Lori Kamberling at the health desk. She asked me several questions and wanted to know if I had any materials to send her. I faxed her data sheets from the AARC, the ALA, the NHLBI, and the AAFP. The paper was kind enough to run an article about asthma, which was presented in a question and answer format, and they also generously plugged our free asthma class, providing the public with directions and a telephone number to call for additional information.

Harrison also put me in touch with our local radio stations' program director, Johnny Story. Story called me in my office and interviewed me regarding asthma, selecting questions from a couple dozen I'd provided him with the day before. He asked us who respiratory care practitioners are and what they do. Then he plugged the AARC and the upcoming asthma class on several different radio stations that serve our local audiences here in Russellville. Because the piece was classified as a public service announcement, Story ran the tape on several different occasions on each station.

We also ordered T-Shirts from the AARC for our staff, allowing folks to pick either Tools of the Trade or RC Care Week shirts. Then we grabbed some "RC Specialist" buttons, a couple RC Week banners, some table tents, the AARC's "We'll Be There" posters, and were ready to put our profession on display.

Asthma education
We garnered some materials and posters from others, too. Some were remarkable, such as the NHLBI's 12-page booklet, "Controlling Your Asthma." Monaghan gave us a splendid "Inhaler Poster," which was co-sponsored by the Minnesota Society for Respiratory Care. The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care sent us some smaller posters showing youngsters participating in athletic activities with slogans like, "Don't Let Asthma Slow You Down.

Additionally, materials, hand-outs, and resources came from pharmaceutical companies. We were privileged to obtain an endowment for the refreshments we served to our guests, oodles of printed media, and MDI spacers from our Allen & Hansburys' representative, Marianne V. Beiker.

On October 8, our engineering department hung two of our AARC RC Week banners, one over the main thoroughfare near our physician's parking lot and the other on a quieter street near the employee parking lot. We were especially humbled that engineering placed the latter on our CEO's brand new employee-recognition sign, which thanked us all for making a difference in the lives of the patients we treat at SMRMC!

On Monday, Oct 22, we decorated the hospital with RC Week Table Tents, balloons, and the AARC's Check Your Asthma "I.Q." questionnaires to publicize the asthma class. The table tents announced all the events we'd be hosting during the week, including the asthma class on Thursday night, October 25.

The night of the class, I; Lisa Barborek, RRT, BSRT; Harrison; and Harrison's new assistant, Kristen McKelvey; set up our education room with all the posters, publications, banners, balloons, and paraphernalia we had collected. We used the NHLBI's asthma slides and encouraged questions during the lecture. We got plenty. We'd also obtained some gifts from local entrepreneurs and our sales reps which we gave out as door prizes.

During the session, we asked for a show of hands of MDI users. We demonstrated in a bowl of water full, partially full, and empty MDIs. People were surprised to discover that empty canisters could feel as if they have fluid in them and make a noise, yet be empty. One mother asked if that could have been the problem with her son not recovering when they were on a trip to Texas recently. Another commented that this was the single most useful piece of information we had given them.

Barborek gave out the free MDI spacers, demonstrating them to the audience and then having them demonstrate back to her how to use them. Some visitors admitted their physician had ordered spacers for them, but they either never purchased them or found them distracting or too bulky to use.

We also found out that the great majority of our guests had never seen or used a peak flow meter. Nor had their ordering practitioner mentioned their existence or their potential usefulness in the monitoring and prevention of their disease. We had a few peak flow meters that we'd scraped together, and again, Barborek demonstrated their use. Then she and I had recipients demonstrate back to us the use of the devices. We reviewed how they could establish their "personal best" and emphasized the need for them to get back with their ordering practitioner to find out what they should do if they entered the yellow or red zones in the future.

Back to work
We had pizza for the RT staff several times during RC Week on the A-staff, and we held a reception with cake and punch for both the day and night staffs, which was open to all on duty. Then, starting at about three in the afternoon on Friday, we began the changeover to the new computer system. We stayed up most of the night making the needed substitutions on the floors.

It was a busy week.