I Hope You Enjoyed Respiratory Care Week
Respiratory therapists are some of the brightest, talented, selfless and caring people I know. They work long hours, receive less pay than others with our workload and education, and are grossly underappreciated.
Although we are needed for so many things, we usually end up in a broom closet-sized office somewhere at the end of a hallway located at the furthest point from our patients. We are tasked to do things no one else wants to do, not because it's our job, but because we're respiratory and nothing bothers us.
We drink too much caffeine, we talk too much, we complain until things get done, and we have a good time. Usually we are forgotten. We don't get invited to cake and punch, we aren't "in the loop" on what's happening, and no one wants to sit with us at lunch. Still, let the hospital operate without us. We've carved our niche.
Last week was Respiratory Care Week. I hope each of you had a chance to celebrate, to take a little break from the hustle and bustle of your normal lives and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I hope your hospital did something nice for you and that those you work with stopped to tell you how much you are appreciated.
I hope your state society sent you a nice letter or email so that you know they are watching out for you. I hope the AARC lets the government know how important you are to health care and gets some things done in Washington, D.C., for which we have been waiting a long time.
On a more personal level, I hope your supervisor thanked you for all you do and nursing supervisors extended you some extra special professional courtesy for the many services you provide. I hope your emergency staff baked you a cake or brought you coffee for all those times you were called in the middle of your rounds or at 3 o'clock in the morning.
I hope your administrators sought you out to tell you they couldn't run the hospital without you. I hope doctors bought you breakfast, lunch and dinner for filtering through all their orders, trying to make sense out of them in their absence, or for being there with their vent patient when they cannot.
Respiratory therapists are a rare breed. Nothing bothers us. Nothing is too difficult for us and nothing is beneath us. We've systematically made ourselves important. We've been tested by fire and come out the other side. I hope you had a great Respiratory Care Week and could enjoy it and take pride in what you do. No one else can or would do it if you weren't there. For that, you can be extremely proud.