I read with interest your recent article on the looming health care worker shortage in Maine.
As president of the Maine Society for Respiratory Care, I feel that it is important for me to make the people of Maine aware that this is a serious dilemma for patients who will require respiratory therapy care.
Kennebec Valley Community College is due to close its respiratory therapy program next May. Once closed, the program cannot re-open with a two-year degree, per the standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care.
Southern Maine Community College will become the only respiratory therapy program in the state to supply new graduates to Maine hospitals.
Along with fewer respiratory therapy graduates, enrollment rates are also concerning. SMCC has not filled all of the seats available for incoming students for the past two years.
People need to be educated on the vital role respiratory therapists play in health care.
Educating patients about managing their disease, use of their medications and respiratory equipment, performing various diagnostic testing, managing life-saving ventilator support and improving quality of life are just some of the many job responsibilities respiratory therapists perform.
According to a State University of New York at Albany analysis of Bureau of Labor statistics, there will be a projected nationwide increase in the need for respiratory therapists of 27.7 percent, or 31,200 therapists, from 2010 to 2020.
This certainly presents a problem for hospitals, doctors’ practices, sleep labs, home care companies and anyone requiring the services of respiratory therapists.
We are at a severe disadvantage in Maine because of our lack of programs and the huge geographic challenges this presents to prospective students.
We must determine the best way to provide education for these individuals, so that all areas of Maine can benefit from the level of care provided by respiratory therapists.
Cynthia Carlton, CRT, RPFT
president, Maine Society for Respiratory Care
Windham
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