The MUHC celebrates RT week!

As the MUHC continues to celebrate respiratory therapist week, today we feature the RTs at the Montreal Children’s Hospital

The Respiratory Therapy Department at the Montreal Children's Hospital has worked hard to prepare to support patients and colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve engaged in cross-training in order to assist in critical care areas on both the pediatric and adult sites if needed, they familiarized themselves with many new COVID-related protocols to make sure their practices were safe and harmonized, and they implemented new practices across the institution to ensure the safety of their patient interactions; all while demonstrating a calm professionalism and dedication. 

Below are some messages of gratitude and appreciation to the RTs at the Children’s from their many colleagues.

Lori Seller, Manager, Pediatric Respiratory and Anesthesia Services

The Montreal Children’s RT team is awesome.  I am so proud of the work you do and the difference you make every single day.  I can’t count how many times it has been RTs who have saved the day without anyone even realizing disaster had struck or been narrowly averted!   May the messages of thanks and appreciation from so many of your colleagues and friends drive home how important you are to the multi-disciplinary care you help provide every day and to the broader  teams you are part of.  Happy Respiratory Therapy week!

Sharon Taylor-Ducharme, NICU Nurse manager

On behalf of the NICU I would like to send out a big Thank You to all of you for all your hardwork and effort.  It has not been easy to manage the increased volumes and sick babies and we recognize the pressure this has put on your team.  Thank you for continuing to support our families especially those complex ones we have recently discharged.  Without your help the transition to home would have been so much longer and complicated for the families.  Thank you also for your willingness to teach and explain things patiently when called upon and for participating in the various projects in the unit.  Your expertise and support in our team in all the different areas such as the resus team, transport team and simulation is greatly appreciated. I wish you a great week and just know you are appreciated by all in the NICU.

Drs Mylene Dandavino, Nadine Korah and Catherine Nolin, Program Heads, Medical Inpatient Services

Dear RTs, You are always there to support us when our patients are not doing so well, and you do so in such a calm & reassuring, competent & professional manner. We know how hard you work, and how essential is the role that you play. Thank you!!

Dr. Saleem Razack, Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

To the Amazing Respiratory Therapists, with whom I work: Congratulations for RT week! Through the years, I have seen your dedication, caring and expertise manifest itself for the wellbeing of our patients on many occasions.  I have seen you go that extra mile for the patients – a memorable birthday party at home for a tracheostomized and ventilated patient in hospital with SMA comes to mind. You have saved patients’ lives on many occasions.

Through collaborative persuasion, you have steered me in the right direction about respiratory therapies on many occasions. I have thought of you frequently throughout the COVID pandemic.  You define frontline risk, and I have seen you take it in stride and do the job throughout this time.

You have my undying respect and warm wishes.

Samara Zavalkoff, Medical Director ECMO Program, PICU attending physician

How would we deliver excellent patient care without you? We couldn't! Each day, as I work by your side, I am impressed with your knowledge, expertise, dedication and kindness. I rely on all these skills you bring to ensure we are meeting the patients' needs at the highest standard possible. You are a safety net of the hospital as you circulate in every care area. In addition, as the ECMO Director, I am thrilled by your involvement as ECMO specialists. You ask tough questions, you bring new perspectives to the discussion and you deliver excellent care.

Thank you for everything you do!

Dr. Michelle Ryan, Staff Neonatologist and NICU Simulation Co-Lead

I am so honoured to be able to express my gratitude to you all for all the help and expertise you provide, whether it is in the unit, in the resuscitation room, or during mock codes and simulations. You are such an integral part and I hope you realize how much you are valued. I look forward to continuing to work alongside and learn from all of you in the years to come.

Richard Gosselin MD, Neonatologist
Director, Division of Neonatology, Montreal Children's Hospital, MUHC

Dear RTs,

A big thank you and gratitude for all your contributions, whether it is through your care and your collaboration in the daily rounds in the NICU, your participation in teaching, via mock codes, procedure workshops, NRP courses, and research.

Thank you for your leadership in various projects, large and small, which improve the quality of care. Thank you for your presence during the most critical moments, and for being present during the happy moments with our patients and families.

Guilherme M Sant'Anna, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology

The celebration of your profession is extremely well deserved. You certainly make a difference in the lives of an incredible number of babies every day, 24h a day. Your dedication, knowledge and kindness with so many babies are remarkable. As a neonatologist working in the MUHC NICU I feel safe and confident in provide an excellent respiratory care because of your collaborative work. Keep on with this excellent work! Babies and their families will continue to benefit of that.

Sylvie Levesque, Nurse Manager, Emergency Department, Montreal Children’s Hospital, MUHC

To all the MCH Respiratory Therapists,

On behalf of the MCH Emergency Department team members:

Happy RT Week! You deserve to be celebrated!

THANK YOU for all that you do! You are an integral part of our Emergency Department team!

THANK YOU for your professionalism, expertise, flexibility and skills.

THANK YOU for always being there to help us and any patient in need.

THANK YOU for always participating in our simulations to help us improve pediatric healthcare delivery.

THANK YOU for your help modifying and developing protocols, adapting equipment, mobilizing supplies.

THANK YOU for your hard work, dedication and your commitment to excellence.

Dr. Laurie Plotnick, Division Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Medical Director, Emergency Department, Montreal Children’s Hospital, MUHC

To all the RT in the MCH:

Thank you for your hard work, dedication and professionalism – you always make anesthetists look good in any light! In other words: Respiratory therapists are awesome!

Dr Thomas Engelhardt, Anesthetist-in-Chief, MCH

It is such a pleasure and a true privilege to work with our amazing respiratory therapists/RTs at the MCH. In the Pediatric Sleep Clinic and Sleep Laboratory, it is so rewarding to work with our outstanding RTs, who are trained and subspecialized in sleep medicine.  They are crucial, important and cherished members of our “Dream Team”!  They are so eager to learn and understand this new world of sleep that has its own language, its own complex knowledge-base and technical skills that are very specific to sleep patients. With all of this knowledge and skills, our RTs manage our patients with often complex respiratory and non-respiratory sleep disorders, with independence, common-sense, astute clinical skill, and meticulous attention to detail, all the while always seeing the big picture.  They are technically savvy and calm and collected when managing our sleep patients. It is so clear from working closely with them that they have a tremendous dedication and respect to their profession and to their patients.

Dream Team in the Pediatric Sleep Clinic and Laboratory

In honour of RT week, I extend a huge thank you to our entire team of hard-working RTs: To Diana Zinno, our incredible Assistant Chief RT and Sleep Lab Manager, who works closely with me to manage the sleep laboratory and our patients; Diana is an innovative thinker with creative ideas, has an  impressive dedication to our sleep patients and our sleep laboratory, works hard and tirelessly to juggle her roles, all the while, keeping a collegial, collaborative and fun atmosphere within our Dream Team;   To our outstanding RTs:  Sylvia Ladan (our seasoned RT with tremendous sleep expertise and exceptional technical skills – she has been a valued member of our sleep lab family for over 2 decades!);  Penny Doucet (our meticulous and highly skilled RT in diagnostic and therapeutic sleep studies, who also always practices patient- and family-centred care);  Nader (our sleep lab “MacGyver”, who excels in diagnostic and therapeutic studies, can creatively design and “MacGyver” any airway circuit! and also practices whole patient care);  Alice, our newcomer in our lab who brings with her great expertise in sleep medicine – we welcome her to our team!).  And to our Manager of Pediatric Respiratory and Anesthesia Services, Lori Seller, we thank you wholeheartedly for your leadership, commitment, and innovative ideas and for helping us move forward our projects, especially during these exceptionally challenging times.

We are indebted to you all and can’t manage these patients without your specialized RT care!  Thank you for being such important and invaluable members our sleep Dream Team family!

Sleep well, stay well and stay safe.

Evelyn Constantin MD CM, MSc(Epi) FRCPC
Director, Pediatric Sleep Clinic and Sleep Laboratory, MCH/MUHC
Clinician-Scientist, RI-MUHC

The Respirology team would like to thank the MCH RT’s for all their incredible work. In particular, they way that you have handled yourselves so professionally in this very difficult year, with patient care always in the forefront, is remarkable. Your flexibility and adaptability has enabled our patients to receive timely and pertinent care. You continue to provide great insight and advice for our ICU patients, and the pulmonary function lab has been innovative and flexible so that we were able to ramp up and provide needed diagnostics, and shortly, new tests. Thank you for being on our team, and happy RT week!

Larry Lands, MD, PhD
Director, Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, MCH, MUHC

To all the RTs at the Montreal Children’s Hospital—from the sleep lab, to the PFTs, to the clinics, to the wards, ER and ICU/NICU ….. As Dr. Davis always used to say: RTs rock!

From the Complex Care team

From CCS, a great thank you to you all for the many, many things that you do every day to help children and their families. You make a big difference in the lives of the families. (They tell us often!) We so appreciate your guidance, flexibility, patience, cooperation, teaching, creative solutions to challenging problems, your humor and all your dedication and hard work every day and especially throughout this pandemic.

We appreciate you, not only during RT appreciation week --- but every day!

Keep rocking!