Events Planned for Respiratory Care Week Oct 22- 27
October 16, 2012EASTAR Health Celebrates Respiratory Care Week with Events
Staff will offer free education throughout Muskogee
The Respiratory Therapy Department at EASTAR Health System will celebrate Respiratory Care Week October 22- October 26 with events aimed at education and prevention. The department plans to distribute literature about COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), asthma, smoking cessation, and careers in respiratory therapy.
The weeks’s events will kick off Monday, October 22 from 9:00 am- 11:00 am in EASTAR Health’s main hospital lobby with free literature distribution, Q & A, and refreshments. The public is invited to come meet members of the respiratory therapy department and learn more about COPD, asthma, smoking cessation, as well as the role a respiratory therapist plays within a hospital setting. On Tuesday, October 23, the team will visit Indian Capital Technology Center to talk with students about careers in respiratory therapy. There will be a morning and afternoon session. On Wednesday, October 24, there will be a free smoking cessation fair for hospital employees in Conference Room G. During the rest of the week the team will be participating in activities with the respiratory staff.
According to the American Association for Respiratory Care, there are over 130,000 respiratory therapists in the United States who evaluate, treat, educate, and monitor patients with all kinds of breathing disorders. Respiratory therapists even help prevent chronic lung disease by counseling smokers on how to quit and by teaching people how to manage their respiratory conditions. Respiratory therapists work in a variety of healthcare settings. In a hospital, respiratory therapists give breathing treatments to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions, manage ventilators that keep the critically ill alive, deliver life-saving interventions in emergency rooms, treat children in newborn and pediatric units with conditions ranging from prematre birth to asthma, and perform many other roles.