Array of options available to students in CTC's respiratory therapy program

Last week was Respiratory Care Week, and one group celebrating was the students and faculty of the respiratory therapy program at Cape Girardeau�s Career and Technology Center.

Students held an open house Wednesday at the CTC, speaking to visiting students from area schools, demonstrating equipment on dummies and even actual lungs.

Clinical education director Kyle Kern said the CTC�s two-year, associate-degree program is one of only a few in the state, and yet, the Department of Labor projects up to 23 percent growth in the field by 2026.

Cape Girardeau Central student Haley Brazel, 16, touches a bleb on a pig lung during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

That leads to good job prospects, Kern said, and the CTC�s two-year program covers critical care to therapy and beyond.

Credits are earned through a partnership with Mineral Area College, Kern said, and credits can be transferred to a bachelor�s degree course of study.

Students view a demonstration during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Instructor Keri Vandeven said her second-year students recently won a state academic competition called the �sputum bowl,� and will go to Las Vegas in December for Nationals.

�It�s definitely not an easy feat,� Vandeven said.

Kendra Sokolowski, center left, practices using equipment on a medical dummy during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Graduates of the program have many options, Kern added. Working in hospitals, physicians� offices, home care agencies and emergency services are typical applications, and graduates can also work with neonatal care, rehabilitation facilities or pharmaceutical sales.

Since the program began in 1981, Kern said, hundreds of students have graduated and entered the workforce in a field with steady growth.

Ethan Rea receives hands-on education at an intubation station during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Camery Davis, a second-year student in the program, said she had gone to a four-year university and studied nursing, ultimately earning a degree in general studies with a nursing certificate, but found herself interested in respiratory therapy after her mother, who suffers from respiratory health problems, was hospitalized, and Davis met several therapists during the hospital stay.

�And I found the program here in Cape, so it was close to home,� said Davis, who is from Sikeston, Missouri.

John Ford, 17, undergoes a pulmonary function test during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

�I always wanted to work in nursing, and this sparked my interest,� Davis said. �If you don�t look, you won�t know.�

Chris Westrich, a second-year student, had his interest piqued after growing up with his father, a respiratory therapist.

Students feel pig lungs during a respiratory therapy program open house Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Technically, he said, with RT, specialization isn�t possible, but there�s a wide array of applications in the field, and he wants to know all aspects.

Kristina Lee, also a second-year student, said she had a friend who worked in the field, and that�s how she found out about the program.

She�s looking to work in a neonatal intensive care unit, she said, although there are other options with the type of credential she�ll hold after graduation.

�With respiratory therapy, you�re first in line to help the patient,� Lee said. �You�re going to breathe for them when they can�t.�

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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