MAKE EVERY BREATH COUNT: LIFE AS A RESPIRATORY THERAPIST

Brooke Smith
Hi, everyone. Welcome to MDF Instruments Crafting Wellness Podcast! Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Gary. He's a respiratory therapist.

Garry
I'm a respiratory therapist here in Los Angeles, California.

Brooke Smith
Awesome. And how long have you been in respiratory therapy?

Garry
I have been in RT or three years. I think I'm going on three and a half.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, I think last time we spoke you had kind of just started during the pandemic. So that sounds about right. It's it's getting up there.

Garry
I had six months of experience, and then the pandemic happened. So that was a wild ride.

Brooke Smith
First of all, what drew you into becoming an RT?

Garry
So it's so weird, because at first I was like a theatre, film like actor, I was like going into that route. And after doing film for so long, I kind of wanted to change gears a bit. And I always had an interest in the medical field. I just didn't really know what and so when I was in college for film, I started looking at the different degrees that were offered at my college. And in medicine, there was just a few options, mainly nursing. And so I started to Google, other healthcare careers, and I stumbled upon respiratory. And right when I saw it, I was like, Wait, like, my grandma's? a respiratory therapist? Like why didn't I think of this sooner? And so I started actually googling like the career because although I knew she was in our teen, I would go to work with her sometimes, actually, I didn't really know exactly what she did. And so when I started looking up, everything that a respiratory therapist is and what they do, I just kind of fell in love with how specialised and like niche it was. And so I looked up colleges near me that had a respiratory program, and the rest is history.

Brooke Smith
I love it. Yeah, your grandma was an RT, that's it runs in the family and must have some genetics in there.

Garry
Yeah, I guess it does. Yeah. So it's cool. I get to like piggyback questions off of her. So that's nice.

Brooke Smith
She's still practising or is she retired, now

Garry
Retired. But she does love to brag that I followed in her footsteps. So it's cute.

Brooke Smith
Can youtell us a little bit about what the process is like becoming an RRT? So for anyone who might be interested in pursuing a similar career as you can, you just kind of walk us through exactly how one becomes an RRT?

Garry
So the first thing that you need to do is you need to find a college, whether it's a community college, a trade school, or a university that offers a respiratory programme, and you want to double check that it's accredited. Once you find that college, then you just have to take all the prerequisites that are required before you can get into the respiratory programme. And, you know, that can take however long it takes, it's it varies per person on what you have left to do. For example, I was already a film major. So I had like my English and my math and all of that. But I did have to take a lot of sciences, like human anatomy and physics and stuff. And once you get into your programme, it is a two year programme. Unless you're going for your bachelor's, then it would be a four year just do the RT programme. And you graduate and you take two board exams and you get your licence.

Brooke Smith
How long are the board exams?

Garry
I think they take around like an hour and a half. But again, that can depend on you. And so there's two exams, I took mine a month apart from each other. One is a multiple choice exam, and another is like a clinical simulation exam. So if you only pass your first board exam, you're just a certified respiratory therapist. So you have to pass your second board exam to be a registered respiratory therapist. And back then you could practice as a certified AR T. But in most places nowadays, you have to be an AR RT.

Brooke Smith
Oh, okay, so technically, you're an RRT.

Garry
Yeah, so I'm an RRT, if I only pass my first board, I would just be a CRT.

Brooke
That's really good to know. I didn't know that. Walk us through day in life normal kind of what your day looks like as a respiratory therapist to kind of talk us through what you do as a respiratory therapist, what kind of patients you see

Garry
The day to day can be so different. And that's what I love about being an RT is it's not boring, same stuff. So first of all, I guess depending on your facility and how the trading works if you can work in all the units or not. It depends on what unit you're going to be in. So you can be working with adults, you could be with paediatrics you could be in the NICU, you could be in the emergency room, and from then on, it depends how your day is gonna go. But what an RT does is we specialise in the pulmonary system and the cardiopulmonary system. So anybody with any sort of airway issue or lung issue, they are going to be our patient. Our main priority is to make sure that there's a peyten or open airway. So we assist with intubations and that is the insertion of a breathing tube. And while All they have to breathe into there. They're placed on a ventilator. And so we manage the ventilator. We suction the patient, we change different modes and different settings on the ventilator to help get the patient better. And then eventually, hopefully we take the breathing tube out. And so that's a patient is on a ventilator. We also have just have like normal floor patients where we are just giving inhalers and nebulizers breathing treatments and medications to help open the airway to mobilise any secretions and we're also doing airway clans therapies like IPv Metalab, the best therapy, we have cystic fibrosis patients. Yeah, it's just completely different. where you work and what unit you work in. We draw blood. We attend any and all emergencies. It's just, it's such a thrilling and unique position that is just different every day.

Brooke Smith
No, I love it. I am I breathing is so important. It's not something we think about because we just naturally do it. My mom had respiratory failure back in December of 2019. You know, since then, it's kind of been a struggle, figuring out how to help her breathe and keep her oxygen up. And so I'm a little familiar with some of the medications and things like that. But it's such an important thing that you know, you can't breathe, you can't do anything like you can't function as you know, you're just kind of sitting there if you can't have your breath.

Garry
Yeah, I don't think we realize how simple it is until it's gone. And I think that's why a lot of people don't really know what a respiratory therapist is. Because you shouldn't really have to unless you've experienced, like, such problems with breathing with which, you know, hopefully, and thankfully, most of us don't experience that. But usually people are like, Oh, I know what an RT is because their family member was on a ventilator or had some sort of respiratory issue. Sorry to hear about your mom and she doing okay.

Brooke Smith
Thanks, Gary. I can tell it's a struggle. It's a struggle just trying to figure things out. I think my mom actually got COVID Before people knew what Publix was. So December 2019 she got really sick. And then I got really sick. And I was after five days, I was like, Mom, we got to go to urgent care, because I know I feel terrible. And you're a lot older than me. You can't be I got it from you. So we went to urgent care. And then right away, they're like your mom's 33%. That's That was her oxygen 33. We don't know how she's awake. Most people pass out like 65 or something. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, and her lips were blue. But I was so out of it that I didn't even acknowledge or even process the fact that her lips were blue. And she was not doing well, because I was so sick. And myself. So they ended up just taking her by ambulance directly across the street, they wouldn't let us drive her anything there by ambulance took her over to the, to the emergency room. And then, like an hour, she was moved to the ICU and had with respiratory failure. And it was again, it was before people knew what COVID was. So she probably would have gone on like a ventilator at that time. But they treated her like she had no like pneumonia and the flu really bad. So they didn't end up doing that to her. But she was in the hospital for nine days in ICU. And she's you know, she's been recovering ever since. But it's more it was in Colorado where the altitude is also really high. So struggling there for oxygen. Now she's kind of living with the fear of wanting to go home for the holidays and not being able to share she can actually do it. And there's a lot of things you have to think about too. Like can you fly on the plane can how is how is altitude going to affect your breathing, you know, so it's a pretty it's a I, I absolutely adore you for what you do and appreciate you so much. Because it really is something that without our breath, like we have no life and it's such an important job. And I'm so glad we're coming up on Respiratory Therapy week. And we can just say thank you for all that you do, because I know Gary especially you just kind of began your journey right at the kind of crux of the pandemic.

Garry
Yeah, yeah, it's been a crazy

Brooke Smith
You've been in the fire and had to go nuts for the last two and a half years. So it is how it has had things come down for you. I'm sure you've learned a lot very quickly. Can you talk a little bit about what what the last few years has been like for you?

Garry
Um, well you know, I'm I'm so grateful I had six months of experience because I feel like if I had like three weeks I would have I don't know if I would have made it you know, I would have been so traumatised, I think it was definitely still super scary and like traumatic, especially in the beginning. You know, I think we forget that like, we had no idea what this was all we noose that people are dying. And then you know, even eventually, like, all the stores were closed, like roads were empty. Like, I think we forget that like, we really went through like a really crazy period of a pandemic, you know. But yeah, in the beginning, it was just really scary. We didn't want to show any skin. I ended up working at three different hospitals throughout the pandemic. So I got to see how it was a different phases. Even when I was at my first hospital, and it was super crazy. At the hospital I work at now, they were hardly even having COVID patients at that time. So it really just hit different areas and waves. And of course, after I got hired, then it really came, I ended up got crazy at my current hospital. But yeah, I think I really just got to learn a lot and experience a lot, especially on my own. Because, you know, in these rooms, like if there's a normal Code Blue or something, there's like, 12 people in a room, you know, like for nurses and a doctor, and everybody, and during COVID It's literally just you, a doctor and a nurse, there's just three of you, you know, you don't have that extra help. So yeah, I think it was just obviously scary. But also crazy growth happened. I feel like I've been doing this for like 10 years, you know? Yeah, it's definitely not something that I would want to go through again, but thankfully, our COVID numbers are down now. i My current hospital, we have less than 20. So it'll we're definitely not seeing like crazy ventilator intubated patients who are dying anymore, which is really nice. And I think in huge part, that's because most people are vaccinated.

Brooke Smith
yeah, I just I can't even imagine like all of the things that you've seen in all the just you trying to do your job and be there and help and save lives. And then at the same time, knowing that you're putting yourself at risk, and also your loved ones at risk. So you know, that just just I know, a lot of people would would be concerned about having to come home after, you know, being on shift. Because with COVID, it's like you didn't know you could you could be get infected and spread it. And so I know that those are really, really hard time. And thankfully that things are calming down, I think all the way around. And people who get COVID isolate, and it's it doesn't seem to be as severe for most people unless you're auto immune compromised, or you're older, or you just get it really bad and you can't find it.

Garry
And that whole fear of coming home was so scary. I really thought that like I was gonna give it to someone. But thankfully, all of that is gone. Now. Hopefully, we never have to experience that again in our lifetime.

Brooke Smith
Amen to that. Okay, Gary, so I want to ask you a question. If you could go back and tell your younger self something or give some sort of advice to yourself, something now that you wish you'd known what is that you would maybe tell yourself.

Garry
I think it would have been nice to have, like thought of respiratory first, just to have done it sooner. I'm so grateful that I went into it and for the things that it has got me in life, I feel like I have achieved a lot since becoming an RT, and I think it would have been, it would have been obviously nice to like, have that money and that financial stability sooner. But also, I think for anybody, like students who might be struggling in their programme, because I remember when I was a student, it was just scary. The thought of this big medical programme, like gosh, like, Can I do this? I wasn't a straight A, like AP classes. You know, I didn't do all of that in high school, because I wasn't trying to go into medicine. And so I think there was that fear of can I do this. And if you just treat it like, I tell people this all the time, but just treat it like any other class. It's not some big scary medical programme. It's not something so hard. You can't do like doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists and lab techs and pharmacists. Like we're all just normal people who just you know, took that leap of faith and studied and you just kind of have to like believe in yourself and throw all those doubts and nerves and anxiety out the window because you can do it. It's just going to take time just have faith in yourself.

Brooke Smith
sometimes I wish I could just like relax a little bit more you know, like just have faith is gonna work out do your best and if you don't succeed the first time it's okay try again keep going and then all work out me and as long as you don't give up you know, and let let the fear when you can't let the fear win.

Garry
Yeah, I wish I was like that when I was pursuing acting to just having more confidence and just doing it like not caring, you know, and that would have helped too when I was younger.

Brooke Smith
Right especially when you're I feel like when you get older it's a little easier to kind of just throw it throw it away more and not really care and just do your thing. But younger, you're just more self conscious you You're not really self confident, self assured, you know, you think everyone else hasn't figured it out. And then as you get older, you realize, no, nobody

Garry
Nobody has it figured out. No, we're all just winging it and living life. And

Brooke Smith
I love I want to talk a little bit about your creative outlet, because obviously, you come from like a performance kind of background theatre and film. You obviously like to make people laugh, entertain, what does that expression do for you? Because I know, obviously, in your career, you it's not always a fun day, right? You know, you see things happen. So is this kind of a, an outlet for you to express those feelings you're going through?

Garry
You know, I think because acting and editing and filmmaking has always been and will always be a passion of mine, it gives me you know, it gives me an outlet to be able to do that, while also still working in healthcare. And I feel like, I don't know, I try and find ways to make my content relatable. Obviously, it's more geared toward medicine, because it is a medical account. But I also try and have it relatable to anybody really, you know, like, even people come up to me and say, like, oh, my god, that was so funny. And they're not even in healthcare. And I also try not to make it to like niche with respiratory because I want it to, you know, be for a broader audience. But yeah, it's fun to put out content that makes people laugh. And I think, like you said, in health care, we don't always have the brightest days or see the best moments. You know, sometimes we do and we see patients like, go from super sick to super healthy and walk out of the hospital. And it's amazing. And then, but a lot of the times, you know, everyone's really critical and dying. And I think you have to find ways to express yourself and to also relieve any of that. And I think that it's also helpful for people to see funding content on their feet, instead of just a lot of medical jargon, or, you know, I love to teach. So anyway to make people have like, a better day, I think is really nice.

Brooke Smith
I love watching it. And I think you're kind of just finding creative way to express what you're going through in a way that is relatable, but also makes you understand that it's stressful, and like the things that you do are hard, but you're still coming out with like, a smile and a positive attitude about like getting through it, I think and finding a way to navigate those things. So I appreciate your content so much. But I think around people who are so delicate and vulnerable in their state of life. How does that affect you, in your day to day life? Like, do you think about time in a different way? Or has it brought a new appreciation for enjoying every moment? Because we're not guaranteed anything? It has it kind of just changed your perspective?

Garry
Oh, for sure. I mean, I think personally, I think sometimes, like, for example, when I'm with my husband, I can be a little morbid. Like, I'm like, I'm gonna hopefully we don't get a car on the way home or like, you know what I mean? Like, hopefully, like, oh, I wouldn't ride that electric scooter. Like I've had patients who you know, and like, so I definitely, sometimes it's hard for me to enjoy certain things. And I definitely like triple think about like, if that's like a safe thing to do. Because I do come across, you know, so many patients who have done this or that. But at the same time, like, I like it, I think it helps you be aware of your surroundings and helps you appreciate life because life is so short. That's another reason why we got married during COVID Because everybody was dying. And it was like, what if we don't have this chance again. So it's like things like that, that has definitely, you know, made me think about certain things and appreciate certain things in life. And also when you're with patients, and they're so vulnerable and sick, and you know, sometimes they're grumpy. But you have to think like, nobody wants to be here. You know, nobody wants to be sitting in a hospital bed. And you have to remind yourself like these people aren't feeling good, you know. And so I just try and treat everyone with kindness and positivity and I just love like making my patients day you know, and hearing like, Oh my God, you've been the nicest one or thank you so much for getting this like nobody helped me get an extra blanket. You know, I don't know it's just like little things like I want to try and make them have the best day that they can because like I said they're sick and they don't want to be here. But yeah, and I try not to take the sadness home because I feel like I would really just like soak and like negativity and you know, like a depression

Brooke Smith
i i have an I have another sick parents. I'm just full of sick parents but my dad, he is fighting cancer and I He's gone out of the hospital because in a really bad infection, and it went his kidneys and all this now he's in this, like physical therapy, it's like an extension of the hospital where, because he lost his ability to talk walk, like everything, it was almost like he had a stroke, but he didn't. So breathing exercises like walking, like physical therapy, all that stuff. And there was this one nurse, who was a male nurse, he was like, the only male in the whole facility. And you actually kind of remind me of him a lot. Like, he's, he's like, 60 something, and actually look similar. And he just made a connection with my dad, just by giving him a hard time, though, might, you know, get up, man, you could be you know, just whatever kind of given like pushing my dad's buttons a little bit, and really, really took to it, you know? So he's like, where is he? Where is he? Is it gonna be in today and it made me feel so good, because I'm like, there's somebody there that my dad is bantering with. And I never seen him more. When I was there and visiting, I never seen him more like alert and awake and just kind of wanting to engage with this person. So healthcare workers are so important. And I just have to say, thank you, because we appreciate so much that you're there for our loved ones in a way that we can't be, and bring so much comfort to us knowing that, like you're caring and taking care of them, so

Garry
Oh, thank you. You're gonna make me cry. I know. I think, you know, I think that it's really important, you know, like people don't have, especially during COVID, like, nobody could visit, you know, and so I would just like, try and talk to them, and like, you know, tell them like hold on, you know, and stuff like that. I hold their hands. And you know, it's like, because they don't have that. And I feel like there's so many people who still work in healthcare, who unfortunately, lost that sense of care, you know, like, they could kind of care less, or they just go there for the paycheck. And it's like, why are you why are you working in healthcare? You know what I mean? Like, we're supposed to care. So I always try and like, do that with all of my patients, whether they're, you know, they aren't even they're really, neurologically, or if they're sedated. Interesting, it's important to talk to them and let them know that you're there, you know, but yeah, so thank you for saying thank you. I know it's not easy to have a family member in the hospital or anything.

Brooke Smith
Thanks, Gary. No, I just I noticed that too. I just think there's some times I get the sense of almost desensitised, because you guys go through so much. You see so much. Yeah, you know, all that. So I just think it's, it's burnout, sometimes, you know, because you can only take so much. And like, if you keep seeing something over and over again, eventually, it's not gonna impact you as much, you know, but yeah, some pathetic, and we're really grateful for people like you who can feel so deeply and be there for our loved ones.

Garry
thank you, I tell my husband all the time, I'm just so empathetic. Sorry, I'm emotional. So that's cute that you notice that.

Brooke Smith
makes you a good actor, though. Because I find that I really find that a lot of healthcare workers are super empathetic, and also have a creative outlet because it takes a certain heart and a certain kind of person to want to go be there and help strangers, you know, through these difficult days and be there for them in, in these really intimate ways. It's so beautiful, so beautiful. And yes, I just, I love what you do. And I'm really, really thankful for you. Do you for like dealing with your mental health? Do you like do you talk to your husband a lot to how do you kind of like process you to have a diary or journal or anything? Or do you just kind of let it go when you're when you're done?

Garry
Um, you know, I think during COVID, it was really hard. But now, I try not to really take anything home with me. There's obviously certain scenarios that like stick with me, as you know, during my drive home are like, did I do this? Could I have done enough? But yeah, I think it really helps having my husband not in healthcare, just because you would think if he wasn't healthcare, we could like relate more about and talk about it more. But because he's not, he can bring in like a different perspective than what I can see. And also because he's not he doesn't always like to hear everything. So it can be helpful in that aspect. But yeah, I think just, you know, talking about it with my coworkers, too, is helpful and then making some of my content can be really helpful. You know, sometimes if I had like a bad patient experience or A bad family experience or like a bad nurse or doctor experience. I just put that into my, my next real, you know? And I can do it because I'm not exactly calling someone out, you know, but I am in my own way and people can relate to it. So, yes,

Brooke Smith
absolutely. I love it. Thank you so much for joining our MDF Instruments Crafting Wellness Podcast. It was such a pleasure having you on I would love if you could just tell people where to find you on social media. If you could also verbally say where to find you just for people listening so that they can find it as well. Kind of just tell us your social handles if you love.

Garry
Yeah, for sure. So you can find me it's @GARRYRT on Instagram and on YouTube and I have a blog www.garryrt.com and then on Tik Tok. It's @HelloGarry