IPI’s Respiratory Therapy Team: 200+ Years of Experience

Education, Events, Our People

Celebrating Respiratory Care Week 2017 – October 22 – 28
IPI’s Respiratory Therapy Team (from left to right): Romy, Anne, Mark, Edyta, Johnnie, Kathy, Bobby, and John.

At Independence Plus, Inc. (IPI), we deliver the best possible care to help medically complex, ventilator-dependent adult and pediatric patients reach their full potential at home. An integral part of our team is our licensed Respiratory Care Practitioners (RCPs), whose combined 200+ years of experience managing complex respiratory equipment remains unsurpassed.

Our Respiratory Therapy team manages each patient’s care from start to finish: creating a home care plan that outlines safety and efficiency, ensuring the patient has a smooth transition home, training caregivers to properly operate the equipment, and following up to see that patients receive the right products and supplies.

With each step of the process, they show great pride in a job well done. That’s why this week – RC Week 2017 – we are showing our pride them by joining the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) in recognizing the importance of their role and raising awareness for improving lung health around the world.

Earlier this week we asked IPI’s RCP’s a few questions about their chosen profession.

John, RRT, RCP – 44 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: What have you learned from working with IPI’s patients?

A: That our patients’ families are amazing caregivers. After we train them on the highly technical, life support equipment, they are able to handle their loved one’s care at home. Most families have no medical background, but with our training they are able to feel confident in providing the patients care. I am rewarded when I see a family member grasp a difficult care concept or equipment operating procedure. They work so hard to be able to provide the care it is great to see them really understand what they are doing. I also enjoy helping new facility case managers through the home vent discharge process.

Mark, RCP – 32 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: What makes your day rewarding?

A: Being there for the family and patient on what might be the scariest day of their lives when they come home with a ventilator. Coaching and teaching them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train.

Kathy, CRT, RCP – 31 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: What have you learned from working with IPI’s patients?

A: People are amazingly resilient, positive and motivated despite their adversities. It is incredibly rewarding to provide solutions to patients with difficulty breathing due to respiratory illness or accident.

Edyta, RRT, RCP – 13 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: Why do you practice respiratory care?

A: I have practiced respiratory care since 2004. I chose this profession because it was close to what I was doing in Poland. More than two years ago I decided to work in home health, which is different than hospital, because you are more on your own. Every time my patients are happy and smiling it makes my day. I love my job!

Anne, RRT, RCP – 35 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: How would you compare the work you do at Independence Plus with the work respiratory therapists do at a facility?

A: Working with IPI patients has taught me how to be more appreciative of life and how to display grace in the face of adversity. Working in a facility has never afforded me the opportunity to see the full impact of my duties. Patients are discharged to home or another facility and I never see the final outcome. Working at IPI gives me the opportunity to see the end result when you work with a team that has a mission to make meaningful change for people with complex medical needs.

Romy, RRT, RCP – 43 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: What have you learned from working with IPI’s patients?

A: The main difference from the other companies I have worked for is the way our management treats our patients/workers as part of their family. The direction that we have from upper management is very straightforward: Do it right the first time and everything will fall into place. No cutting corners.

Bobby Walker, RCP – 16 years of experience in respiratory care

Q: What makes your day rewarding?

A: At IPI you get time to properly evaluate and treat each patient as an individual. You also have to be a critical thinker … you have to think about all probable causes and find the main issue and solve it. Each patient brings a different level of thinking and it is always a challenge. It is rewarding to be able to keep patients home, healthy and as active as possible.

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