VGH RTs 2020 Photos by William Orsua
Media, Letters, and Proclamations
# RT Week 2020 in the News
“Lessons from the First Wave”
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Letters from RTS
Dear Mayor Ken Christian,
Please see information attached on Respiratory Therapists as RT Week is Oct 25-31. I have also attached a certificate of recognition that was given to RTs from the city of Vancouver. I am wondering if it is possible to do a similar certificate of recognition for the RTs in Kamloops.
This has been an extremely challenging year for our citizens. Our healthcare teams have been doing amazing work despite the stresses and pressures of caring for our people during this uncertain time. Kamloops has shown its love and support for healthcare workers throughout the year by putting up signs, banging pots, and saying thank you.
These things mean so much, and help to lift us and give us strength.
If you were able to give a certificate of recognition, it would be proudly displayed at RIH. This would be so that as many RTs as possible could see it. It would also be shared digitally with the RT Program at TRU, so that those students could see how the profession they are working so hard to get into makes a difference in people’s lives.
Kamloops has the only RT Program in BC, and is extremely well recognized as one of the top RT Programs in Canada.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
JACQUELINE TURVEY RRT, CRE, CTE
19 October 2020
Mayor Buchanan
Subject: Request for Recognition of Respiratory Therapists During Respiratory Therapy Week (October 25-31, 2020)
The Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists (CSRT) celebrates Respiratory Therapy Week annually. This week-long celebration serves to educate the public about the varied roles and responsibilities of respiratory therapists and to raise awareness of the significant contribution made by respiratory therapists across our health care system. This year, Respiratory Therapy Week runs from October 25-31, 2020.
As you know as a health care provider yourself, working across Canada’s healthcare system, respiratory therapists provide essential care to patients of all ages. They are highly trained health professionals dedicated providing the best possible cardio-respiratory care by staying at the forefront of all available research and technology. They use their expertise in the assessment and management of respiratory diseases, in patient and family education, and in the resuscitation and stabilization of critically ill or injured patients. Respiratory therapists work in hospitals, in clinics and in the community to help members of your community breathe easier.
This year, more than ever, our health care system is relying on respiratory therapists. As frontline workers, they have been tirelessly providing care to those infected by COVID-19. The nature of their role and the care they provide requires them to be work alongside critically ill patients, often performing life sustaining procedures at the patient’s head – the most infectious region for providing patient care during a respiratory pandemic.
Respiratory therapists have also played important roles behind the front lines of the pandemic. They have been instrumental in preparing at every level: advising government, mobilizing supplies, designing pandemic ventilators and adjusting protocols to best function under the parameters of this new, highly contagious infection. And, they have continued to provide essential care to a wide range of patients across our health care system who have not been afflicted by COVID-19 including community respiratory care and follow up to keep our clients out of hospital for asthma or COPD exacerbations.
As a respiratory therapist serving the North Shore community, including the City of North Vancouver where Lions Gate Hospital sits, it is an honor for me to request, on behalf of all respiratory therapists, that the City of North Vancouver consider proclaiming the above week “Respiratory Therapy Week”, in recognition of the valuable role of the respiratory therapists within the community. The proclamation will be posted at the hospital so the majority of the North Shore RT’s will see it. A copy will be posted on the BCSRT website for wider distribution of this important recognition. Should a proclamation not be possible, I would welcome and appreciate any other form of public recognition that yourself and Council deem appropriate. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Barbara Moore, RRT, CRE
North Shore Chronic Disease Services – Respiratory Disease Education
RT Week Proclamations
RT Week Proclamations
Thank you to the City of Vancouver, City of Delta, City of Kelowna, City of Victoria, City of Courtenay, City of Richmond, City of Williams Lake, City of Surrey, Dawson City and City of Kamloops for recognizing the vital role that respiratory therapists play in our communities.
We’d like to give a shout-out to the respiratory therapists who wrote letters to their mayors, cites and government officials.
Thank you to Elan Nattrass, Jacqueline Turvey, Hardip Kolar, Tracey Heyworth, Heather Gillean, Kerry Swan, Independent Respiratory Services, Jaimie Saxl, Renée Faubert, Lori Larsen, Chrissy Simon, Samantha Teghtmeyer, Barb Moore, and everyone who played a part in making this happen!