National Respiratory Care Week, held each year during the last full week in October, is set aside to honor respiratory care professionals and their dedication to increasing awareness of lung diseases and improving the lives of their patients.
It’s also a good time to highlight JSRCC’s degree program in Respiratory Therapy, the only distance education respiratory care program in Virginia. The Associate in Applied Science program, offering courses in both traditional and distance learning formats, is designed to prepare students for roles as contributing members of the modern health care team concerned with treatment, management, and care of patients with breathing, cardiovascular, and sleep abnormalities.
Currently approximately 80 students are enrolled in the two- year program, split equally between first year and second year students. Of the 80, about 32 students are distance learners hailing from as far away as Danville. While most of their courses are online, laboratory courses are taken on-site at the Virginia Community College closest to their residence. For clinical practice, hospitals in the student’s local area are utilized.
Megan Miller lives in Fredericksburg and is a first year student in the program. As a stay-at-home Mom the convenience of being physically able to stay home while attending college is important to her. She travels to JSRCC each Wednesday for labs, and often gets together with other students in study groups. She said that even as a “distance” student she feels very connected to her classmates and very much a part of the class.
Krystale Garrison, another distance learner from Caroline County, also chose distance learning for convenience and is happy with her decision. She also attends labs at JSRCC, but utilizes Germana Community College in Fredericksburg for testing.
For more information about JSRCC’s Respiratory Care programs as a traditional on campus student or distance learner, please visit www.reynolds.edu.
