AARC member since 1989
Pediatric Transport Clinical Specialist
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN
AARC Activities:
AARC National Specialty Section Chair on Surface and Air Transport October 2002 - December 2006 Chair, AARC Roundtable on Disaster Response 2005-2008 AARC Representative Board of Directors to the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services. CAMTS) 2007-2008 Chair AARC Ad Hoc Ventilator Guidance Work Groups (Human Resources) 2007-2008 AARC representative Advisory panel member for Mass Casualty Project (Project EXTREME) in conjunction with Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security and a group from Denver Health. August 2005-April 2006
Affiliate Activities:
Elected Vice President of Minnesota Society for Respiratory Care 2008 Elected to Minnesota Society for Respiratory Care Board of Directors 2006-2007 Co-chair MSRC Disaster Response Committee 2007-2008
Education:
RRT Dakota State University Madison SD 1986 NPS National Board of Respiratory Care 1991
Publications:
Updated Chapter on Transport/Home Ventilators for upcoming 8th Edition of Mosby's Respiratory Equipment. Publication scheduled February 2009. Wilson GD, Sittig SE, Schears GJ; The Laryngeal Mask Airway at Altitude. Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 34, Issue No. 2. February, 2008. Sittig, SE. AARC clinical practice guideline: transcutaneous blood gas monitoring for neonatal and pediatric patients, 2004 revisions and update. Respiratory Care. 49(9):1069-72, 2004 Sep. Sittig, SE, Asay, GF. Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation in the newborn: two case studies and review of the literature. Respiratory Care 2000 Oct; 45(10): 1188-95
What steps will you take to strengthen international exposure of respiratory care?
I would continue to volunteer in any capacity to help the AARC promote the role of the respiratory therapist. I would also look to recruit outstanding respiratory therapist from across the nation, encouraging them to promote the profession by their involvement in research and publication. I believe it would also help promote the profession internationally by working to get respiratory therapists involved in international medical relief missions such as those to third world countries where teams are deployed for example to help correct congenital heart defects. This would bring the expertise and knowledge of the respiratory therapist to new venues worldwide.
How would you suggest we recruit and educate the leaders of the future for the AARC?
I think in order to find future leaders for the AARC, we need to first look to the RT schools to impart the importance of not only belonging to your professional organization but become involved in the organization. Once these new professional enter the work force they need to be mentored by current leadership in the importance of being a professional and to take and active role in the evolution of the respiratory care profession. As a mentor, they need to feel passionately about the vision and mission of the organization and the profession. Current leadership needs to share that passion they feel in a way that enables others to feel passionate, too. The nature of the vision and mission is critical for enabling others to feel as if their work and involvement has purpose and meaning beyond the tasks they perform each day.
With the introduction of the Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative Bill in Congress, how are you going to work to get that bill successfully passed?
I am currently a member of the Minnesota Society for Respiratory Care "435 Plan. " This plan includes every Minnesota voting district. Each district has an RT representative to help mobilize not only professional involvement in supporting this legislation but also to reach out to the community at large to educate them on the importance of this legislation. This could include letters to the editor in local newspapers, meeting with consumer groups in the area such as a local group of AARP members. On a professional level, I would go from workroom to workroom showing RT staff how to use the Capital Connection to write their representative to support this legislation.
