This week is the 40th Annual National Respiratory Care Week! It's our chance to celebrate and say 'Thank you' for the life-changing and saving work our Respiratory Therapists do every day. Here's one real life story of the amazing impact Respiratory Therapists have on patients:
When Sandra and her husband moved to East Tennessee from Florida, she frantically began interviewing doctors and taking tours of UT Medical Center and the University Pulmonary & Critical Care clinic. Having lived with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) for nearly 60 years, she needed to feel a deep sense of trust with the respiratory care team here. Thankfully for Sandra, a trial medication begun in 2014 has made a huge difference in her pulmonary function, and she has far outlived the life expectancy for someone with CF that existed just a decade ago.
However, CF is relentless in its demands on those who live with the disorder. Sandra knew she would be visiting the clinic often and would need a healthy working relationship with the physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists. She explained her home care routine and what she expected of the staff here.
Now, after four years of getting to know the team at UT Medical, Sandra feels right at home. “I really have to give a shout-out to the respiratory team and the nurses,” she said. “I feel like they go above and beyond, and I think they do that for everyone. They have it in their hearts and really care.”
Sandra is active in many CF support groups with people of all ages, and she is grateful for the prognosis for their futures due to advances in medication. “I’m telling you, it’s gonna be different,” she said. “Younger people are gonna live longer. Women can get pregnant now, where they couldn’t before. There may not be a cure, but we can now manage it to live a good quality of life.”
This week, help us say thank you to our Respiratory Therapists for all the people like Sandra that they help every day!