AARC Election 2026 — Krystal Craddock

AARC Activities:

• AARC COPD Tool Kit Committee 2015
• AARC Continuing Care/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Section Chair – 2016-2018
• AARC Clinical Practice Guideline Home Oxygen Committee 2022-Present
• AARC Education Advancement Legislation and Policy Task Force 2024-Present
• AARC Barriers to Education Task Force 2024-Present

Affiliate Activities:

• California Society for Respiratory Care (CSRC) President 2023-Present
• CSRC Secretary 2022-2023
• CSRC Government Affairs Committee, Member 2022-Present
• CSRC Professional Advancement Committee, Chair 2021-Present
• CSRC-California Thoracic Society (CTS) Liaison 2019-2023
• CTS Program Planning Committee, Member 2022

Related Organizations:

• CTS Program Planning Committee, Member 2022
• American Lung Association Lung Force Expo Committee, Member 2018
• American Lung Association Asthma Educator Institute Committee. Member 2018

Education and Credentials:

• Master’s of Science, Respiratory Care (MSRC) – Boise State University 2020
• Bachelor’s of Science, Respiratory Care (BSRC) – Boise State University 2016
• Associate of Science, Respiratory Care – Butte Community College 2007

Publications:

• Craddock KM, Nguyen J, Schivo M, Louie S, Kenyon NJ, Kuhn BT. The Effect of Respiratory Therapist Case Managers Integrated into COPD Clinical Care. Respir Care. 2025;70(4):363-367. doi:10.1089/respcare.11728.
• Gould, E., Craddock KM., LeTellier T., Kuhn BT. Stable Airway? Fatal Airway Occlusion After Inadequate Post-Tracheostomy Care. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Network. May 29, 2024. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/web-mm/stable-airway-fatal-airway-occlusion-after-inadequate-post-tracheostomy-care.
• Craddock KM, Gupta R, Louie S, Kuhn BT. Pulmonary pitfalls: The case of the “frequent exacerbator” patient with COPD. Consultant. 2023;63(1):20-25. doi:10.25270/con.2022.11.000013.
• Chalupsky M. R., Craddock K. M., Schivo M., & Kuhn B. T. (2022). Remote patient monitoring in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Journal of investigative medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/jim-2022-002430.

Elections Committee Questions:

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the AARC, and what do you recommend to address it?

I believe since COVID the AARC, as well as their state affiliates, greatest challenge is membership and engagement. I believe the AARC is doing a great job providing value of membership, but we need to reach those who are not members and who are not as engaged. Demonstrate what the AARC can do for them. The new website has many resources for all RT’s, whether you work in academia, home care, or acute care. Highlight the great resources within the different sections, as well as the leadership grand rounds, free CE presentations, and access to the RCJ. Find out what non-members face and what they would like to see from the AARC. People don’t know what they don’t know, and many times the AARC already has the tools and resources they’re looking for, they just need a little help finding it and to realize it. I also think highlighting more stories on how the AARC has helped its affiliates fight to keep RT licensure in their state. This is a huge impact that the AARC makes for our profession.

Healthcare is changing more rapidly than ever. What ideas do you have to help today’s respiratory therapist meet these challenges?

Education. We need to help improve access to higher education as well as resources to educate our colleagues continuously. There is a large spectrum of therapists and we need to bring along those who are lacking clinical knowledge and provide them with tools to improve critical thinking skills and patient care. We need to arm people with knowledge on new therapies and guidelines, even if we’re not prescribers, we should know what medications and therapies to recommend and advocate for. We need to stop thinking “that is not my job” and being a part of the multidisciplinary patient centered care, and that is thinking like a professional clinician. Education will bring our profession forward by leaps and bounds. I have heard RTs complain that we’re not seen as a profession and this is the way to do it. This will get us that seat at the table. In the end, it is about our patients and the more we know, the more we can make a difference.

Your role as Director-at Large is to represent the general AARC membership. If given the opportunity to represent, what will be your goals in advocating for the everyday respiratory care professional?

As an RT who has worked in an academic medical center, children’s hospital, small community hospital, academia, management, and ambulatory care, I have a wide range of clinical experience and can speak as an RT in these arenas. Currently working as an RT in patient care, I can empathize with the struggles and the benefits we have working as RTs. I am fortunate to be able to practice at the top of my scope and I hope to advocate for those who also get to work this way as well as those who do not. I want to help all RTs gain the knowledge and skills to be able to practice autonomously and hope to advocate for them by speaking to the board with this in mind. I believe my legacy in this field has been helping grow our profession into the case management space and showing other professions that RTs can improve patient outcomes in ways we had not done before, and there is more room for our profession to grow into spaces we have yet been. It’s time to break glass ceilings together.