I am a registered respiratory therapist at two Long Island Hospitals and both hospitals have seen record numbers of admitted patients with severe respiratory complications in need of advanced therapies and including mechanical ventilation. One Hospital typically has 36 critical beds in its three Intensive Care Units. During this pandemic, the staff has had upwards of 125 patients all on mechanical ventilation due to COVID-19. And while it's typically a 350-bed hospital- its had as many as 720 patients admitted- the majority of them having the virus. Our responsibilities include assuring adequate ventilation and oxygenation, monitoring the patient's response to therapies, administer medications through the patients' airways and assisting with probing the patients- (lying them on their abdomen) as this promotes better oxygenation. We also respond to the calls for cardiac arrest and the many "rapid responses" as part of the team, where we provide airway stabilization and resuscitation as needed. 

I am so very fortunate to be a part of the faculty here. I am so proud of the students who are currently in the program, who are juggling our on-line instruction and going to work in these high-stress environments. They have courses to complete and families to feed, mortgages to pay and yet they report to work, many directly with these patients who rely on them for even some basic needs. I know we prepare our students well for a career in this much needed and often overlooked field. Many of our graduates, recent and seasoned, are out there now on what has become known as the "front-lines" and I am in awe of all of them.

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