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By Jill Sperling

increased admission

Provincial funding allows for expansion of TRU’s Respiratory Therapy Program

Jul 29, 2020 | 4:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Respiratory Therapy Program at Thompson Rivers University is getting a boost from the province as the need for medical professionals increases.

The province is providing TRU with $395,000 in order to increase the number of clinical anesthesia assistants.

This allows the school to admit 20 respiratory therapists into the one-year post graduate Clinical Anesthesia Assistant Program, which is a pilot project.

It’s a move that comes as hospitals feel the pressure of delayed elective surgeries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“They’re quite behind, so everyone is working overtime basically to try and get caught up, said Les Matthews, an associate professor in the Respiratory Therapy program. “So, the clinical anesthesia assistant, they’re a physician extender for the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist, as I’m sure most people realize, is a critical part of any operating room.”

TRU also received funding to add 20 seats to its Respiratory Therapy Program in order to have enough graduates to compensate for respiratory therapists choosing to enrol in the Clinical Anesthesia Assistant Program.

“So we’ve gone from 80, up to 100 for our intake of students into our program, because TRU is the provincial program for respiratory therapists,” Matthews explained. “We’re the only program in B.C.”