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ISRC
Seminar 2009
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Tom
Gable
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| Twin Falls is the site of this year's ISRC
annual educational seminar. Dates are Thursday and Friday, September 3
& 4. The facility is the Red Lion Canyon Springs Hotel on Blue Lakes
Boulevard. |
| The Program Committee has put together a diverse list
of talks ranging from neonatal high flow oxygen therapy to chest trauma,
with lots of interesting topics in between. Subjects that catch my eye
are an overview of chest imaging by Twin Falls radiologist Daniel Alder
and an explanation of “Why We Sleep” by ISRC Medical Director Nirmal Charan.
Nationally prominent speakers include Brian Walsh, RRT-NPS, FAARC from
Children's Hospital Boston and Adam Seiver, MD, PhD from Stanford and Chief
Medical Officer at Respironics. Some of my favorite people add a
robust local presence, like Michele Andrew (Boise), Paula Carvalho (Boise),
Dixie Durham (Boise), and Lande Lambert (Twin Falls). |
| There appears to be about 13 hours of continuing education
available at the conference. There will also be equipment and service exhibits,
as usual. The hotel has a regular rate of $89. The meeting rate is $79.
Checking the internet, I find that there is a special 24% discount available
for the dates of the meeting. That rate is $67.64. It is not indicated
how long that rate is valid, but it does require a one night, non-refundable
deposit. A full program will be available soon at our web site. |
| Thank you to our Program Committee which consists of
Chair President-elect Michael Allen, President George Pletcher, Secretary
Mendy Burns, past President Brandi Johnson, Conrad Colby and Medical Director
Nirmal Charan. |
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ISRC
Annual Business Meeting
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Thursday,
September 3rd, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
During
2009 ISRC Conference
Red
Lion Canyon Springs Hotel
Twin Falls, Idaho"This
is the Annual Business Meeting and all members are urged to attend."
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Contact
George Pletcher for more information at pletcheg@slrmc.org
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New
Criteria for State Licensure?
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Tom
Gable
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| When you received your confirmation of renewal of your
Idaho RT license for 2009, there was an alert that in 2010, renewals must
document their continuing education hours, pay the fee and maintain your
credential with the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). At the
outset, it appeared that that statement mandated an active NBRC membership
($25.00 per year). |
| The ISRC Board got some feedback from long-time members
who read the notice and disagreed with the necessity of yearly NBRC membership.
President Pletcher contacted Mary Leonard at the Idaho Board of Medicine
(IBOM) and officials at NBRC to clarify the actual meaning of the notice. |
| What he found out was that the IBOM requires that your
credential must remain valid. For therapists who earned their credential
prior to July 2002, their credential is a lifetime one with no recertification
criteria. For credentials issued after July 2002, there are recertification
criteria. Specifically, every five years, the practitioner must comply
with the Continuing Competency Program (CCP). The three options for complying
with the CCP are either document 30 hours of continuing education acceptable
to the NBRC, or retake and pass the credentialing exam for the highest
credential held, or pass an NBRC credentialing exam not previously taken. |
| Although none of this mandates active membership in the
NBRC, the rates for documenting continuing education or taking the recredentialing
exam are far less expensive for active NBRC members. I also think it is
just a good organization to support. They define the worth of respiratory
care practitioners by applying the highest standards in test development
and validity. |
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ISRC
Web Site
www.idasrc.org
Education
- Resources - Employment
- Meetings/Events - Scholarships
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Medicare
Respiratory Therapy Initiative
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Tom
Gable
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| Even though RCPs are much more greatly accepted and appreciated
by our medical colleagues than we were several years ago, the federal government
is slow to legitimize the field by recognizing respiratory therapists as
capable of practicing their craft without direct supervision of a physician.
An attempt to include services of a respiratory therapist into Medicare
law is currently going through the legislative process. |
| The two bills presently in the works are HR 1077 and
S 343. Each pretty specifically only speaks to the ability of a respiratory
therapist working in a physician's office to be able to practice RT procedures
and patient teaching without the “direct supervision” of the physician.
The “qualified respiratory therapist" defined in the bills would also have
to be an RRT with a bachelor's degree. |
| Although the scope here doesn't seem very large, the
effects of passage would be very significant for the respiratory care profession.
It would be the first time that respiratory therapy services are specifically
named in Medicare statutes. |
| A complete discussion of the Medicare Respiratory Therapy
Initiative can be found at http://www.aarc.org/advocacy/.
The AARC leadership has asked all members to contact their Representatives
and Senators to urge the inclusion of the concept of HR 1077 and S 343
into the “Health Reform” legislative package that is currently about to
be “marked up”. Mark up is where they decide what is in and what is left
out of the package. This would be an optimal time to add the concepts of
the RT initiative to that package, with a much greater opportunity for
passage than the discrete bills. |
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Walking
the Hill
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Brandi
Johnson
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| In February Conrad Colby and I traveled to Washington,
DC to walk Capitol Hill and meet with our Congressmen. This was part of
the annual AARC ritual where each affiliate sends members of its Political
Advocacy Contact Team (PACT) to the nation's capital to maintain a visible
presence for our field. We visited with Congressman Walt Minnick
and Senator Mike Crapo to discuss the RT Medicare Bill, (HR1077 on the
house side and S343 in the senate). We were asking for Congress to
recognize qualified respiratory therapists and the services they furnish
by amending the statute to include a new and separate benefit category
for respiratory therapy services under the Medicare Part B (medical and
other health services) provision. |
| When you here that "WE" are initiating the 435 plan,
we are asking RTs and RT patients to get on the AARC Capitol Connection
website and contact their senators and representatives to let them know
how they feel on the above bills. (The AARC’s 435 plan is named for the
number of congressional districts in the US. Ideally, each AARC affiliate
would identify at least one RT and one pulmonary patient in each district
to be ready to contact their representative and senator whenever an important
political or regulatory moment is at hand). Our first congressional district
rep is Walt Minnick and our rep for the 2nd congressional district is Mike
Simpson (who was out of the office when we walked the hill). Our senators
are Mike Crapo and James Risch. |
| Mr. Frank Salvatore of the Connecticut Society is our
go-to-guy on this subject and he sent me a note to send out to us all:
" In the case of a state with so few congressional districts you would
want to sign up as many as possible to be a part of your 435 plan.
This way you can send one e-mail and get as many letters/faxes/e-mails
as possible. The other idea that needs to be expanded within all
states is getting patients active in the plan. If you have better
breathers groups it would be great to get someone from that group to be
a point person on the plan to receive information on activations and then
share it with their fellow patients. We are trying to remember to
update the YourLungHealth.org
site with patient based letters so they can write in support as well." |
| So let's all get on board and support our profession.
Go to AARC.org, click on Government
Affairs (on the left) then click on AARC’s Capitol Connection. |
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Member
Spotlight
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Tom Gable
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Michele Andrew
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| I want to congratulate Michele
Andrew on her recent retirement from St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center
in Boise after 39 fruitful years as a respiratory care practitioner. Michele
started in respiratory care in 1971 at the Boise VA. At that time there
was no respiratory care (inhalation therapy) department there. Michele
did PFTs, EKGs and assorted lab work. In about 1972, Larry Mitchell, Ruby
O’Keeffe and Cris Ruffing fled St. Alphonsus to start the inhalation therapy
service at the VA. Michele was transferred from the lab to the new department. |
| Michele’s initial training was
on-the-job and individual tutelage by Larry Mitchell. She achieved
the RPFT credential in 1981. Michele went on to earn a bachelor's degree
from Idaho State University in Corporate Training. That track gave significant
credit for experiential development that Michele gained from years of PF
testing and respiratory care. In 1995, Michele added a master's degree
in exercise physiology from Boise State University. |
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| Michele has practiced respiratory
care and pulmonary technology in Boise, Idaho Falls and Fort Collins, Colorado.
Her crowning achievement in the field, however, is in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation.
In 1990 she established a pulmonary rehab program at St. Alphonsus Regional
Medical Center in Boise. She added cardiac rehab to the program a short
time later. We all know how useful and important those programs are. Because
of pioneering work in that arena by Michele and the late Shirley Gossi
Thimsen (at Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital) in our state, and many
others nationally, government recognition of the important modality is
on the brink of acceptance. |
| Michele has held most ISRC offices
and committee posts over the years. She was President in 2007 and is currently
a Director at Large. |
| Michele is not completely retired.
She has accepted a position at Boise State University Respiratory Care
Program. There she will teach an on-line class for the bachelor's degree
program. Her portion of RC Theory 5 will delineate pulmonary rehabilitation. |
| Michele has other interests of
course. Now with her expanded leisure time she can have a little fun. She
greatly enjoys motorcycle touring with husband Ron and plans on taking
the Harley to Sturgis later this summer. |
| Thanks Michele for all you have
done for the ISRC, for our field in general and specifically for pulmonary
rehabilitation. |
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Camp
Super Breathers
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Tom
Gable
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| As noted below in the Board of Directors meeting minutes
there will be no Camp Super Breathers this year. The week-long domiciliary
camp is canceled for 2009. I would assume this is due to budgetary constraints
of the Lung Association. |
| The Lung Association did conduct an Asthma Day Camp this
year in Boise's Municipal Park on June 23. The camp is for asthmatics from
5 to 12 years old and was staffed by respiratory therapists and nurses
from St. Luke's Boise. Thirty-five campers enjoyed a spectrum of activities
from getting to know about mucus to a nature walk at the MK Nature Center
to identify asthma triggers. There were also arts and crafts and plenty
of games including a jump house. |
| Food and medical supplies were donated by Norco, Apria
and MedNow. Nice blue T-shirts appear to be donated by ALA and St. Luke's.
All the kids are reported to have had a good time and no medical emergencies
occurred. |
Boise Asthma Day Campers & Staff
Photos by Kimberly Tilley
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Need Respiratory
Care Professionals?
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Board
Meeting Minutes
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May
8, 2009
Meridian
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| Last meeting minutes approved. |
| Members Present: Michelle Andrew, Mendy Burns,
Carrie Massey, Ramona Sailor, George Pletcher, Michael Allen, Brandi Johnson,
Tom Gable, Kelly Dwello, Jeff Johnson, Leonard Nolt. |
| Treasurer's Report: |
| Committee Reports: |
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PACT: Brandi reports that the Bill 343, in which Medicare
will reimburse for respiratory therapists in the home, may require a bachelorette
level of education for RRTs.
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Nominations/Elections: still needing more nominations.
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President's Workshop: George attended the workshop at the
end of March. Michael will attend next year. Findings: If you
aren't an RRT you must have a polysomnography license to work in sleep.
To be a non-profit organization, you can make up to $25,000 annual
income.
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| Old Business: |
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Policy and Procedures--needs work.
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Grievance Procedure--tentative grievance, the only thing
AARC will remove membership for is due to a felony.
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AARC International Fellow--received application. Will
know more in July.
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ISRC Annual Conference--mail out will be in 4-6 weeks.
Hope to have about twenty vendors, 10 so far. Carrie will help recruit
vendors.
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| New Business: |
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Steven Schaal resignation
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Heather VanOrden Student Representative graduating-congrats!!
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Jeff Johnson, new student representative. Welcome!!
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Pam Lambert and web site--has done a great job.
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AARC revenue sharing direct deposit--AARC will be charging
us for this feature.
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Idaho City highway clean up going to be sometime this summer.
Jeff said that the BSU students would again do the clean up this fall.
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Idaho State University respiratory program in the works.
The university is trying to find and hire program director and instructor.
Stevens Henager College is also working on RT program.
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| Open for Discussion: |
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Formal letter to be sent to Chad Rye for money due.
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The American Lung Association cancelled the Asthma camp.
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Carrie questioned whether or not to move some money into
savings. It was suggested to look into APR for both accounts.
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Discussion was held on whether or not to move the conference
dates to the spring. It was suggested to hold a shorter meeting in
the spring of 2010 like in the past.
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Positions open--delegate, treasurer, president elect, director
at large. Ramona volunteered to be delegate again.
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IDBOM requiring that registered members show proof of NBRC
membership. Will need to clarify this.
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| Respectfully Submitted, Mendy Burns, RRT, ISRC Secretary |
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2009
ISRC Board of Directors
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George Pletcher (Meridian),
President
Michael Allen (Meridian), President
elect
Brandi Johnson (Boise), Past
President
Mark Wood (Boise), Vice
President
Mendy Burns (Buhl), Secretary
Carrie Massey (Idaho Falls),
Treasurer |
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Ramona Sailor (Twin Falls),
Delegate
Kelly Dwello (Boise), Delegate
Michele Andrew (Boise), Director
at Large
Dr. Nirmal Charan (Boise), Medical
Director
Jeff Johnson (Nampa),
Student
Representative |
Visit http://www.idasrc.org/contact_us.htm
to contact a Board Member.
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The Mountain Air newsletter
editor is Tom Gable. If you would like to contribute information/articles,
please contact Tom by e-mail:gablet@slrmc.org,
or fax (208) 381-3498.
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