January 2011 As a new Chapter President, my number one goal this year is to get to know who makes up Chapter 7.  So, KRCS volunteers and I have joined together to arrange visits to meet the Respiratory Therapists all across Chapter 7.

To begin our tour across the 12 counties that make up Chapter 7 we visited therapists in El Dorado.  El Dorado is located in Butler County and which is the northeast corner of Chapter 7.  To begin our morning we met up with Steve Ades the Respiratory Care Director at Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital.  Steve was more than willing to be our very first visit and did an exceptional job showing us around!!!  (I think he enjoyed the donuts we brought too!) 

Steve Ades, RRT and Louise, RRT

Susan B. Allen staffs 9 therapists and 5 DME employees, all who are active AARC members.  We also met Louise King who was finishing her night shift that morning.  She has been a member of the team for 35 years!  Steve also started out his career with Susan B. Allen at a young age.  He shared with us that he started in dietary at the age of 16 and then worked as an OJT in the very Respiratory Care department he leads today!  In addition, the Chief Operating Officer, David Shaw, who Steve reports to, is also a Respiratory Therapist and active AARC member.

The department provides many aspects of Respiratory Care to the Butler County area.  They provide many services to the 40-50 acute care beds at Susan B. Allen and serve on many emergency response teams including the Decontamination Team that had been activated the day before our visit.  As Steve joked, in the smaller hospitals they play a role in an array of areas and have just enough involvement to be dangerous!    In addition, they have a PF lab, sleep lab, out patient ECG, cardiac rehab, share responsibilities for the stress testing, and DME.

We were welcomed by the DME group on the same morning.  Thank you Kim Nolan, Ginger Cronister and Geri Hamilton for the wonderful tour and hospitality!  We visited their facility that included a CPAP fitting room and they shared their practices to assist patients with compliance using the devices.  I have to say for myself and having little experience in home care these ladies taught me a lot about this side of the profession!  Their involvement with the AARC and the legislative changes are critical in this office.  They are wonderful advocates for their patients and the excellent rapport assists with the patient’s compliance in the home.  They speak of their clients as family and are proud to have original customers from when DME opened in 1998.

The trip to El Dorado was great and on behalf of Chapter 7 we want to thank Susan B. Allen for their hospitality!!! 

~ Charity

In March of 2011, I had the honor to visit the Newman University Respiratory Care class of 2011.  These students are full of energy and have immense enthusiasm for their new career. The group is fun and demonstrates true dedication early in their career path.   In fact, we celebrated their commitment to the Respiratory Care profession as this class is 100% AARC members!!!  My time with the Newman University class of 2011 was invigorating and I was greatly impressed with their ambition to be the very best Respiratory Therapists they can be. 

The faculty shared with me the history that makes the Newman University program what it is today.  From 1969-1974, the Respiratory education programs in Wichita where hospital-based with some class time at a local university.  In 1974, hospital programs were eliminated and a local university admitted students directly into a Respiratory Therapy Program.

Through the invitation of Dr. Surendra Singh, the program’s advisory committee was invited to evaluate Kansas Newman College as a potential home for the program.  In 1996, Respiratory Care was welcomed by Kansas Newman College.  In July of 1998, the college changed their name to what we know now as Newman University (NU).  There were many colleges the committee reviewed for this program, but Kansas Newman in particular had great potential for a Bachelors degree.  In fact, last fall NU started a Bachelor of Science in Health Science degree path that allows students with an Associates degree in Respiratory Care and other health professions to complete and expand their education.  Within this program they receive expanded knowledge and experience in education, management and leadership, or a psychology sociology option. 

When meeting with faculty and students I found that Newman University takes great pride in assisting students with a strong foundation in all areas of respiratory care.  Their skills lab and education is not brand specific, but focused on the overall concepts.  For example, ventilation is taught as a concept and not tied to a specific ventilator.

During my visit I met with the Program Director, Meg Trumpp. She recognized the community support for NU as exceptional.  She stated that many students are directed to a career as a Respiratory Therapist though a connection to an RT in the community.  In addition, part of the application process for the program is to arrange a hospital tour with a respiratory therapist in the community and see the daily life of that role. 

Mrs. Trumpp shared with me that many hospitals across KRCS Chapter VII are instrumental in the clinical rotations provided to Newman University students.  Their clinical time is a 1:1 or 2:1 student to therapist ratio and they receive 624 hours of clinical time prior to graduation.  This time spent in the hospital and clinics is a hands-on teaching opportunity for each student and they arrive well prepared.  Clinical rotations for the students begin in the 2nd semester after they have a solid understanding of pathophysiology, the clinical manifestations and the treatment for each disease process.

Mrs. Trumpp also acknowledged the Respiratory Therapists located in the community setting for their continued support for the graduating students in the Respiratory Care profession and is grateful for the guidance that is offered throughout the students’ professional journey.

This program provides a wonderful foundation of knowledge to their students and facilitates amazing connections with working Respiratory Therapists.  This great recipe for success is outstanding and in 2010 Newman University students’ pass rate on the CRT and RRT Written exams was 100%!!!  This visit was inspiring and celebratory in many ways!!!

To kick off the summer, Via Christi’s Home Medical team of Respiratory Therapists shared with the Kansas Respiratory Care Society the many outstanding services they offer to patients all over the state. 

Visiting with the Wichita branch, we learned that this team of nine Respiratory Therapists covers approximately 60 miles surrounding the city of Wichita.  They travel as far north as McPherson, east to Eureka, west to Pratt and south to the Oklahoma border.  However, the patients cared for by Home Medical are all over the state.  There are multiple branches of Via Christi Home Medical providing services for much of Kansas. They have branches in Manhattan, Salina, Dodge City, Hays, Garden City and now a branch located within the newest Wichita Hospital, Via Christi Hospital on St. Teresa. 

The many teams are led by a group of amazing leadership who were welcoming and shared their passion for home health with me.  While touring the Wichita location, I quickly gathered that EVERYONE has great passion for those they serve and take pride in their organization.  In fact, when I walked up to the building the door automatically opened for me and a very friendly receptionist greeted me with a smile and eagerness to serve.  I was truly impressed that this culture was the norm. 

Jenni Beilman –  Manager     Becky Hall – Supervisor       Debbie Schuessler - Director

One of the key philosophies shared by staff is that the patient is the one who everyone serves.  They have a facility that has a skills lab room to assist families and patients visualize the complexity of setting up medical equipment in the home.  This allows home care givers and patients a clear understanding of space needed in the home, including the availability of plug-ins.  The highly knowledgeable and experienced RTs provide patients with education and training on their home equipment and ensure the patients feel comfortable with their devices to assure compliance. 

As the acuity of care in the home increases, highly talented therapists are essential to provide all ages with complex specialized respiratory equipment.  The respiratory therapists at Home Medical Services are very active in their assigned patients’ plans of care.  They develop care plans through protocols and continue to manage the patients according to these well established pathways.  The work put into providing a successful care plan is multifaceted and the RTs here have the passion to provide patients a smooth transition.  The multiple items each therapist must consider in regards to the home, care giver and portability (if the patient needs to travel for treatments, etc.) can be a juggling act that this staff has perfected. 

Some of the many services offered in these care plans are ventilators, BiPAPs, oxygen, trachs, apnea monitors and oximeters.  In May, they reached 100 ventilators they provide service to and celebrated by releasing 100 biodegradable balloons.  Yea!!

The organization is one of compassionate care and reaches out to provide financial hardship care for patients who cannot afford it.   In addition to impressive customer service and skilled staff, Home Medical Services offers convenience to those served.  It is one stop shopping as this company offers home health services, DME (durable medical equipment) and a pharmacy.

It only made sense to learn that Home Medical Services along with its sister company, Mt. Carmel Medical Equipment, are the only two companies to hold the Quality Respiratory Care Recognition awarded by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC)!!!  This award recognizes home care providers that promote patient safety by providing access to respiratory therapist to deliver patient care. 

Way to go Home Medical Services for providing outstanding Respiratory Care across Kansas!!!!

In June, members of the Kansas Respiratory Care Society (KRCS) had the opportunity to visit the Respiratory Department at KU Medical Center in Kansas City.   Dan Conyers, the manager, gave us a tour of the facility and shared some best practices in providing care.  It was very fascinating to see how a Respiratory Care department of such a large hospital maintains quality care!  The respiratory therapists there play a vital role at the patients’ bedside and are depended on by the doctors and nurses to give their recommendations for care plans.

KU Medical Center has 3 main campuses and utilizes 523 patient beds.  It is always 95-100% full.  The Respiratory Department has 105 FTE’s who work mainly 12 hour shifts.  We found out that Dan has been employed at KU since 1976, where he started out as a student.  As a member of the KUMED team 34 years, Dan has more years of service at this facility than any other employee in the Respiratory Department!    The department takes pride in the fact that they still perform all respiratory procedures including incentive spirometry.   As a large teaching hospital, they do share ABGs with the medical students.  Once drawn, ABGs are tubed to lab for resulting, except in the ICUs where the samples are ran through an I-Stat machine.  To keep up with the demand of cleaning/checking out equipment, the respiratory department employs 6 equipment techs.  The only time one is not available is from 0430-0600.

It is impressive how technology drives the KU Medical Center and assures patient safety!  The charting system they utilize is “Epic” and the entire patient chart is completely electronic.  Along with that, data is automatically downloaded from the ventilators instead of being hand written on a flow sheet.  KUMED is focused on patient safety as you can read in the slogan that displays across the log in screen of Epic: “One Patient.  One Record.  One Goal.  Safe, High Quality Care.”  What a great mind set to have! 

Dan also showed us the Clendening Library that can be visited within the Medical Center.  The library has diverse displays throughout the year.  During our visit, the “History of Medicine” Museum was on display.  Talk about fascinating!  We really enjoyed looking at the different equipment that are now antiques such as an old ECG machine and x-ray machine.  My how things have changed over the years!

One of the last things we did was visit the KU Respiratory Care Education Department.  It was great to see how their school is set up and where the students attend class each day.  This part of the tour brought back memories for Charity, as she is a graduate of KU.  Of course we had to take a look at her graduating class picture!

I would like to say thank you to Dan Conyers for taking time out of his busy day to show us around and give us a glimpse of the day to day operations of KU Medical Center and especially the Respiratory Care department.  We had a fantastic time!  It gave me a chance to step outside my little corner of the world and see what other respiratory therapists are doing to make a difference in their patients’ lives.

Thanks!!
Stacie Fox, KRCS Secretary

The city of Hays, Kansas hosted the 25th Annual Kansas Respiratory Care Western Kansas Seminar in September of 2011.  Traveling to Hays was a wonderful experience and our tour of this unique rural community began at Hays Medical Center.

We received a wonderful guided tour given by Stan Munsch who has served as a respiratory therapist in Hays, Kansas for the past 37 years.  We were also accompanied by Lynette, a therapist for the past 34 years.   They both began their careers at Hadley Hospital in Hays, KS.  This hospital merged with another religious affiliated facility, St. Anthony’s Hospital, in 1991 to form Hays Medical Center.  This 222–bed facility is a private, not-for-profit hospital which provides the only tertiary level hospital services in the region.

In addition to Stan, we had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful members of the Respiratory Care team at Hays Med.  As director of the Cardiopulmonary Services Department, Stan leads a group of 24 staff members including PRN therapists.  The daily staff includes 4 day shift therapists, 4 night shift therapists, one diagnostic therapist, a manager and a director.

Left to right:  Jason Livesay, Stan Munsch, Katherine Teller, Connie Linam, Randy Gideon, Linda Lukens and Lynette Pfannenstiel

Hays Med confidently states on their website, www.haysmed.com ,that the hospital’s “single core purpose:” is "To Help People Be Healthy," and their overriding goal is: "To Be the Best Tertiary Care Center in Rural America."   The Respiratory Therapy department fits in perfectly with the vision of this organization.  The department is centrally located in the hospital and provides care to every area of the facility.  They have a Pulmonary Function Lab offering diagnostic testing.  It is located right off the front entrance which provides ease and convenience to the patients they serve.  Connie, a very passionate therapist, has served in Hays for 27 years and is committed to PF testing.  She shared how Respiratory Therapy has been a great occupation for her and she is encourages the new therapists who choose this career path.

The Respiratory Care staff exhibited great enthusiasm for their career and employment with Hays Med.  With the cumulative number of years committed to this organization and the loyalty of the staff we met, it is not a surprise Modern Healthcare magazine has named Hays Med as one of the country's Best Places to Work in healthcare in the nation for the fourth straight year. 
There are many areas that Hays Med is recognized for currently.  In fact, our tour took us to an innovative healthcare program located right here in Western Kansas, the DeBakey Heart Insituite.  This outstanding heart program, serving a population with twice the national average for heart disease, was founded by a world renowned heart surgeon, Dr. Michael DeBakey.  We learned that Dr. DeBakey invented the roller pump, which became a vital component of the heart-lung machine and assisted in the beginning the practice of open-heart surgery.  This is now an extremely common procedure performed on patients who Respiratory Therapists care for daily.  In addition, he invented the left ventricular assist device, the mobile army surgical hospital (MASH), and the concept of lining a bypass pump and its connections with Dacron velour, later applied to arterial grafts. Dr. DeBakey also developed more than 70 surgical instruments and performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy.

This is all impressive, but did you know the Respiratory Care department at Hays Med also has a significant pioneer who has led the way for our profession?  Stan Munsch broke new ground for Respiratory Care in Western Kansas.  Visiting with him ignited in us a pride for the Kansas Respiratory Care Society.  Learning about the history of this society over the past 25+ years was inspiring.  Stan shared with us many copies of the Wheatstone Bridge magazine publication that he initiated.  This was the official KRCS newsletter and was distributed to provide communication and promote networking with therapists across the state.

Over time Stan has initiated many new beginnings in KRCS history.  In fact, 25 years ago, Stan launched the Western Kansas Seminar that many still attend yearly.  He has been active in the KRCS for over a quarter of a century and has been an inspiration to many.  We appreciate the time Stan and the staff at Hays Med took to enlighten us about the past, as well as, their excitement to impact the future of Respiratory Care.

In addition to our HaysMed hospital tour, we had the pleasure to visit the Sleep and Neurodiagnostic Institute at The Center for Health Improvement, an amazingly innovative facility within this organization. I believe the Center for Health Improvement is leading the way for the health care industry by focusing on the overall health of their community. In fact, they are Kansas's only Accredited Medical Fitness Facility.

Their idea “To help people get well sooner and stay well longer”, as stated on their website www.thecenter.haysmed.com, brings acute care together with daily living in the community and surrounding areas. The Center for Health Improvement has a mission to make Hays the healthiest rural community in America. They plan to do this by joining customary medical care with prevention, education and physical fitness.

We were invited to visit the center by Respiratory Therapist and director of the Sleep and Neurodiagnostic Institute, Suzanne Bollig. It was very impressive to find sleep and neurodiagnostic services housed in this community based wellness institute. Many RT departments across America include Sleep Diagnostics as part of the Respiratory Care department, either hosted in a clinic or acute hospital setting. In fact Suzanne shared that the cardiopulmonary department is where sleep services began here in Hays, KS. Although the placement of these services in the Center for Health Improvement was out of the norm and a big change for her from the acute care respiratory culture, Suzanne shared that the transition has been wonderful.

As many of us live busy lifestyles, we forget just how important good sleep is for our overall health and wellness. However, the staff at the Sleep Institute in the Center for Health Improvement were happy to share how they assist in educating this community. Many members of the staff started out in either a traditional role as a nurse or respiratory therapist. Bryan, who was grateful for the donuts J, serves in a multifaceted role in the center. With a nursing background, Bryan assists patients with scheduling, processes the studies during the daytime, and provides assistance to patients who will be or are using PAP therapy for the treatment of sleep apnea. In addition, Bryan also provides many outreach education programs including teaching sleep awareness sections of psychology classes for high school students.

We also had the opportunity to meet Kerri, a certified respiratory therapist, who also assists with the outpatient and inpatient services including neurodiagnostic studies, EEGs, Pulmonary rehab and patient education. Including the 2 sleep technologists at night, this department has a total staff of 5 with an AASM accredited 4 bed sleep lab. With 26 critical access hospitals feeding into the Hays Med System, there is a large referral base for sleep studies and the lab stays booked for about 4-6 weeks out.

However, the lab is not the only area where sleep medicine is making a difference in the lives of this community and outlining areas. The Center for Health Improvement allows this group to be involved in disease management programs for groups. For example, they work with the “Healing in Motion” cancer recovery program providing educational materials and audio recordings for patients to use during exercise sessions and to help in understanding the importance of sleep along with the fatigue and sleep disturbances typically found in recovering cancer patients. They also participate in the 12-week Lifestyle Weight Management program providing informational materials and lectures on the interaction of poor sleep, weight gain, and even the development of obstructive sleep apnea to individuals working to improve their lifestyle and lose weight. There are opportunities to work with sports medicine and to educate athletes on how sleep habits can affect reaction time. There are afterschool programs at the center which promote exercise and healthy snacks for kids. The aquatic center has both an Olympic size pool and therapy pool for patient rehab. The fitness center is state of the art and both the community and hospital employees benefit from these services. The center even has a community library where all health related books are FREE!

The opportunities the Sleep Institute employees get to be a part of are never-ending. Together with many other departments they are working to build a healthier community. Thank you to The Center for Health Improvement for leading the way!!!