Seeing the great impact one respiratory therapist had on my grandfather—treating him like he was their own grandfather—made us want to make that same impact!
Amanda Smith, RRTRespiratory Supervisor Dan Liberatore, MSEd, RRT, recently shared the following letter written by Amanda Smith, a respiratory therapist on a six-month traveler contract.
Amanda Smith, RRT, (daughter) and Lynn Strickland, RRT, (mother) embarked on careers in respiratory therapy at the same time after seeing first-hand the positive impact a compassionate and skilled respiratory therapist could have on the care of a loved one.
Dan,
To know that you are that appreciative of us completely overwhelms our hearts. I wish you truly knew what an honor that it is for us to be a part of your team at Cheshire Medical Center. It’s not all the time that travelers are received so warmly, and you all accepting us so quickly speaks volumes of how caring, and compassionate you all are!
That said, mom and I started our journey together in 1999. My senior year in high school, my grandfather fell ill, and was placed on a ventilator in an ICU in Charleston, SC. He was most cherished by all of us, so sleeping in a waiting room and being present at his bedside once visiting hours came around became our daily routine for weeks. In doing so, memorizing the names and seeing the roles of each of his care team members was easy after the first week and a half, which came to mean so much to us, and is one of the greatest reasons we are respiratory therapists today.
During his hospitalization, one of the respiratory therapists came into his room for a ventilator assessment. This person didn’t introduce themselves to him, nor us. They didn’t acknowledge my grandfather. They did their job and left, assuming that his sedation kept him from knowing anything that was happening, which couldn’t have been further from the truth.
During suctioning, they didn’t explain to him what they were doing, so with poor communication as well as technique, it caused him to be surprised, and anxious. He began to gag, and cough, not just excessively, but aggressively with tears streaming down his beet-red face, with the respiratory therapist still not addressing him, having no compassion at all. As his family members, this was upsetting to us because when our family hurts, we hurt. We want to know, as the patient’s family, that they are being treated compassionately. That is why, today, we (mom and I) try to treat every patient as family.
You see, the following day, we were present at the bedside when a different respiratory therapist performed that same ventilator assessment on my grandfather. We witnessed, first-hand, the difference in his reaction with introduction, and explanation of the procedure of suctioning, even with simple task of auscultating breath sounds. Because of this, the assessment went much more smoothly. The anxiousness he felt, as opposed to the day before, was minimal. He was prepared, more than that, he was appreciative. Sure, he coughed, but the aggressiveness from the day before was not present, making the experience more tolerable from his perspective as well as ours.
Seeing the great impact one respiratory therapist had on my grandfather—using good communication, showing compassion, using proper technique, and simply treating him like it was their own grandfather, reversed the traumatic experience left by another—made us want to make that same impact! Whose name did grandpa remember along with several great nurses and doctors, that took care of him, as well as a lab tech that could literally draw blood from a turnip? He remembered a respiratory therapist named Katherine; we all did!
During this experience, my mom and I were in similar situations looking for our career paths. My mom had managed a convenient store, but after getting robbed 3 different times, she was in college with a plan to find her calling. I was just about to graduate from high school and looking for mine.
Walking out of the ICU one afternoon, my mother looks at me and asked, “Would you like to be a respiratory therapist?” I said, “Let’s do it!” We graduated in 2002 at a Florence-Darlington Technical College in Florence, SC.
Fast forward 21 years, and here we are, travelers, living for 6 months in the, “Live Free or Die,” State of New Hampshire, with some of the best coworkers we’ve ever met!
Thank you for allowing us to be a part of such a great team! The pleasure is all ours!
Amanda Smith