January 25, 2024
Shawnee State University’s Respiratory Therapy and the Shawnee State University Development Foundation recently announced the donation of two hospital beds from Adena Health System to replace old equipment within the university’s lab.
“Working equipment means the students can practice their skills and simulate things,” said Amy France, SSU Program Director of Respiratory Therapy. “When the beds aren’t functional, it makes it really hard to put someone in a Trendelenburg position, or any other position. So, this gives us the ability to let them practice so that one day when they are ready, they can go out and work on real patients.”
A crucial part of equipping hands-on laboratory stations, having up-to-date, working hospital equipment in classrooms and facilities allows SSU students to get the necessary experience they require before entering the workforce.
“We appreciate all our clinical sites and we especially appreciate Adena for stepping up and getting these beds to us,” said France, mentioning Shawna Meredith at Adena was a big part of making sure the donation happened. "They saw the need and they saw that future therapists are dependent on this equipment functioning and working, so we can’t thank them enough.”
The Respiratory Therapy program is grateful for the partnerships they have made with regional hospitals and clinical sites. In the past, the program has seen donations of ventilators and computer stations to allow students to use equipment current practicing therapists are using in their day-to-day work.
“Our relationship with Adena and all our clinical sites has been wonderful,” France said. “It’s nice that we can share our students’ needs and, if they’re able, they will find ways and come through. They hire a lot of our students too. They need respiratory therapists, so we are providing them with their needs as well.”
Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Therapy, SSU’s program offers students a hands-on experience through clinical and laboratory settings. Students learn to care for patients of all ages experiencing different breathing problems such as asthma and COPD. Graduates of the program have found work in hospitals, private practice facilities, sleep disorder centers, health care research institutions, home health care agencies, and retirement centers, among many other employers. The demand for Respiratory Therapists is expected to grow by 19% by 2029.
“I also simply must shout-out SSU Facilities too, who went above and beyond to get the old beds out and the new beds in place,” said France.
To learn more about the Respiratory Therapy program at Shawnee State University, visit shawnee.edu/respiratory-therapy. To explore different donation opportunities within the SSU Development Foundation, visit givetossu.com or contact Chris Moore at (740) 351-3284.