ADVANCE's 20^th anniversary is nearly here!  What is your favorite memory of the magazine?  Which article touched you or changed the way you deliver care?

Respiratory therapists, for the most part, are inconspicuous. We put fingers in damns, quietly catch and correct mistakes and avert disasters that are sometimes life-threatening. For the most part, our work goes unnoticed and appreciated just above the hospital cook calling in sick for the day.

 

I didn’t set out to irritate and amuse my fellow therapists when I sent my first piece of “respiratory action” to Advance magazine. I was just a sleepy, nightshift therapist, twiddling vent knobs in a Level III NICU in South Carolina when the inevitable happened; the premature infant we’d waited on all night to come waited until the only thing person who thought they might be able to get a breathing tube down a 26-weeker was left in the hospital to arrive. The most intense five minutes of either of our lives resulted in one of those great respiratory stories that got better and more heroic with each telling. It got so good, I wrote it down and sent it to Advance for Respiratory Care Practitioners.

 

A few days later, I got a call from one Vern Enge from King of Prussia. Being a practical joker and having pulled my fair share of pranks, I was expecting this call might be one of my fellow therapists pulling their own prank. I mean really, King of Prussia? Was that a real place?  I was about to lose some rather inventive language into the telephone receiver when I thought, “Vern Enge, Vern Enge. Isn’t that the guy from Advance?”

 

It was and I’ve often wondered what Mr. Enge might have thought if told him to go soak his head in Mucomyst.

 

His words were magic, “I like what you wrote.” I don’t think I heard a thing after that, but I’m pretty sure he asked for more.

 

Through Advance, I’ve reconnected  with some old friends, and have at last been able to thank those directors and therapists and nurses (there, I said it) who helped me along the way and got to sing the praises of some truly great therapists. I’m sure Carl, Danny, Scott and Jay scratch their head and wonder why I’m always the hero of these tales, when in fact they were, but they’ll have to take that up with Vern.

Thanks for the outlet guys.

 

Brent Swager, RRT

I would have to say that my favorite memory of ADVANCE is from a week and a half ago, when I was brought on to start a blog chronicling my respiratory life. After only being in the respiratory field since the beginning of my schooling (Sept. 2006), my experience with ADVANCE is limited. It has, however, informed me of the current and latest news in the field, provided interesting stories of brave and progressive therapists making a difference in their settings, and entertained me through humorous cartoons and the world according to Brent Swager. So for all of that, and the job, I thank you ADVANCE! Here's to another 20 years!