For Immediate Release
IRVING, TEX. (November 3, 2004) – Respiratory therapists at St. Alphonsus
Regional Medical Center in Boise will play host to Chinese professor
Lixin Xie, MD, PhD , for a week this fall through an International
Fellowship Program sponsored by the American Association for Respiratory
Care (AARC) and American Respiratory Care Foundation (ARCF).
The 15-year-old program brings health care professionals from abroad
to the United States every year to tour hospitals and other facilities
in two host cities and then attend the AARC’s International
Respiratory Congress, scheduled this year for New Orleans, LA, December
4-7.
“The ability this program gives us to exchange information with our
colleagues from abroad has brought a wealth of knowledge to respiratory
therapists, physicians, nurses, and other health care practitioners
involved in caring for people with respiratory conditions,” says ARCF
Chair Michael Amato. “Over the years we’ve hosted more 100 health
care providers from nearly 50 countries. Many of them have returned
to their native lands and instituted respiratory therapy training
programs of their own, bringing U.S.-style health care to people in
their countries.”
Dr, Xie , who teaches in the department of respiratory medicine,
Chinese PLA General Hospital, in Beijing, China, will be touring the
respiratory care departments at St. Alphonsus and several other local
facilities, where therapists will be showing off their state-of-the-art
technology and sharing information about the American system of delivering
respiratory therapy services and how respiratory therapists are educated
and trained in the U.S.
Respiratory Therapists (RTs) are specially trained and licensed respiratory
health care professionals assisting physicians in diagnosis, treatment
and management of respiratory diseases. RTs provide care in hospitals,
outpatient centers, physicians’ offices, skilled nursing facilities,
and patients’ homes.
The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC)
is a not-for-profit, professional organization, consisting of 35,000
respiratory therapists, physicians, and other health care professionals.
AARC is dedicated to assisting persons with respiratory diseases receive
safe and effective respiratory care.
The American Respiratory Care Foundation is dedicated to furthering
the art, science, quality, and technology of respiratory care.
It is a not-for-profit organization involved in supporting research,
education, and charitable purposes. Specific activities of
the Foundation include funding of clinical and economic research,
scholarships, education activities, literary awards and scholarly
publications.
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Contact:
Beth Binkley, Communications
Coordinator
binkley@aarc.org
American Association for Respiratory Care
9425 N. MacArthur Blvd., Suite 100
Irving, TX 75063
927-406-4657, 927-243-2272