NCRHA sets up respiratory therapy department

The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) has set up a Respiratory Therapy Department to help in the recovery of covid19 patients.

The authority said the department is the first of its kind in the local public health system.

In a release, the NCRHA said after the announcement of the first covid19 case in TT, it realised that there were no formally trained respiratory therapists working in the public healthcare system.

It explained, “Respiratory therapists, working under the direction of a physician, manage cardio-pulmonary care patients suffering from acute critical conditions and cardiac and pulmonary disease. They are also vital partners with the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) physicians and nurses in managing patients with complicated respiratory pathologies, oxygenation, and ventilation disorders.”

A team of patient care assistants and enrolled nursing assistants who completed the NCRHA’s Incentive Spirometry Training programme were put under the supervision of Dr Gerard Antoine as the first members of the NCRHA Respiratory Therapy Department.

Candace Gilbert-Ettienne, who is attached to the Caura Hospital Palliative Unit, said, “Breathing is such a passive thing. When a person cannot breathe, you understand how important that is.

"The department’s aim is to help patients breathe better. They’re focused on the intricate details of the lungs, how the body oxygenates and how other organs affect the lungs. In the time of covid19, these functions are even more imperative.

"The Respiratory Therapy team is truly honoured to serve the NCRHA community and our citizens as our nation engages the covid19 battle.”

The NCRHA said it realised the therapists were an integral part of the team and strategically placed trained therapists on the frontline of all of its covid19 care facilities.

It said, “Many covid19 positive patients experience symptoms such as shortness of breath and low oxygen levels. The respiratory therapists monitor bedside parameters such as lab results, vital signs, lung pressure and collaboratively work with various process owners to optimise ventilator settings and deliver oxygen therapy accordingly. Additionally, they play an active role in the aftercare that may be required for patients who recovered from the covid19 virus.”

NCRHA CEO Davlin Thomas said the NCRHA recognised the key role respiratory therapy would play in the management and rehabilitation of both critical and non-critically ill patients with covid19.

He said this type of treatment for people who currently have the virus, as well as those who have recovered, is "of considerable importance, since it is being increasingly observed that persons who no longer have the virus might still suffer adverse effects and require respiratory therapy to continue to improve.”