IMAGINE HAVING A CAREER that's really a calling. A career with a starting salary of $60,000 a year, and job opportunities that grow every day.
This is the reality of respiratory therapy, a career in high demand, with a future that's even brighter.
But don't go into the field if a paycheck is your sole motivation. If you don't like working with sick people, you won't last, said Kelly Coreas, director of clinical education for the respiratory therapy department at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
To be successful in the field long-term, "you need to like people, want to help people and care about them," Coreas said.
Said Mike Castanon, head of the respiratory therapy department at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, "You have to have the desire to help people feel better.
That's the whole reason for doing it." As baby boomers age, the demand for respiratory therapists is expected to grow 19 percent between 2006 and 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nearly 80 percent of the jobs are in hospitals, mainly in departments with respiratory care, anesthesiology or pulmonary medicine.
Most of the other jobs are in physicians' offices, nursing care facilities and home health care services, Coreas and other educators say.
Coreas offers advice to high school students: "Math and science are certainly important subjects in high school. But reading is extremely important. Our textbooks cover a lot of ground. You have to be a good reader to make it through the course," she said.
If possible, take a course in medical terminology in high school, she added.
Prerequisites for the 18-month community college-level programs generally include chemistry, anatomy and physiology.
At the completion of the program, students must take a national board, which consists of three exams, said Ken Bryson, chairman of the respiratory therapy program at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa.
That certification is recognized by the state of California.
Castanon said the field encompasses far more than providing treatments to seniors with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.
Respiratory therapists are among the first responders to a Code Blue, the alert signaled when a patient requires immediate resuscitation, frequently as a result of cardiac arrest. They also are called upon to perform several sophisticated diagnostic tests.
Although much of the work is with senior citizens, respiratory therapists also care for babies.
Premature babies frequently are on life support and the role of a respiratory therapist is to help manage those cases, Castanon said.
With the downturn in the economy, Bryson said applications to the Crafton Hills program have risen and he expects an even greater increase for next year's class.
LEARN MORE
Area schools with accredited respiratory care programs include:
Concorde Career College
201 E. Airport Drive, Suite A
San Bernardino
909-884-8891
Crafton Hills College
11711 Sand Canyon Road
Yucaipa
909-794-2161
East Los Angeles College
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez
Monterey Park
323-265-8650
Loma Linda University School of Allied Health Professions
Nichol Hall Room 1605
Loma Linda
800-422-4558
Mt. San Antonio College
1100 N. Grand Ave.
Walnut
909-594-5611
San Joaquin Valley College
10641 Church St.
Rancho Cucamonga
909-948-7582
Victor Valley College
18422 Bear Valley Road
Victorville
760-245-4271
SOURCE: Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education.
