CHCS has a new position: Lead Respiratory Therapist. We are happy to announce that Michelle Budreau will be assuming this responsibility.
Budreau is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, or RRT, and handles an array of duties. In addition to seeing inpatients and outpatients in Onaga, she monitors respiratory charges and charting in Cerner. She updates, reviews, and writes policies and procedures relating to respiratory issues and helps maintain respiratory equipment for the entire system. Budreau also handles training and competency for respiratory staff and ongoing training for everyone in the system, compiles reports for providers, sets up Holter monitors (a type of portable electrocardiogram) for Onaga, and handles concerns from CHCS clinics.
During the five years Budreau has worked at CHCS, the volume of outpatient testing and the patients she sees in the hospital have increased greatly because of an aging population, an increased number of patients with COPD, and increased education time and testing because of vaping.
Respiratory therapy demand has increased dramatically because of COVID-19. Many COVID-19 patients who are admitted to the hospital have breathing difficulties, and Budreau has helped maintain best practices and researched how and where to order necessary supplies. In Onaga, Budreau notes that we have gone from having no ventilator to three ventilators, and we now have a Vapotherm High Velocity oxygen system in Onaga and St. Marys. We are also updating our monitoring capabilities to include CO2 monitoring.
"I am glad to be working with a great team of nursing and respiratory and know that together, we will give the best care possible to our patients," Budreau said.
"Michelle has been a wonderful asset to our respiratory therapy department, and we are very excited that she will be stepping into this role," said Andrea Lutz, director of ancillary services.
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View AllDeborah Stallard | Jan 22nd 2021 @ 7:55 AM
Congratulations, Michelle! ...A well-deserved title.