According to BLS, respiratory therapy is projected to grow by 13% in the next decade.  Even with the attention to the profession during COVID, our profession continues to experience a low number of student enrollments nationally. In response, our national organizations (AARC, NBRC, and CoARC) are working on several initiatives to bring awareness. One such initiative is the  relationship with HOSA.  AARC will be a premier partner with HOSA in 2025 and will bring the profession to 280,000 students and advisors. HOSA-Future Health Professionals is a national student organization focused on health science education and biomedical science programs.

In 2024, the Pennsylvania Society for Respiratory Care (PSRC) also engaged with the PA HOSA State Leadership Conference. In 2025, this led to the PA HOSA conference offering a respiratory therapy competition track and two professional exploration symposiums, providing awareness of our profession to hundreds of students and advisors in PA. In addition, our stations with pig lungs, airway manikins, and bronchoscopies generated a lot of interest among enthusiastic high schoolers (pictures attached). 

As part of this, we developed a HOSA committee that included RTs from across the state:

• Linda Cornman, PSRC Director of Operations

• Christine Gluvna, Program Director, Mercyhurst University, and PSRC Education Section Chair

• Brad Rogers, Director of Clinical Education, South College, and PSRC Director at Large, Adult Acute Care

• April Butchki, Program Director, Carlow University

• Jefferson Mixell, Operations Manager, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and PSRC Junior Delegate

• Hernan Alvarado, Associate Vice President, Temple University Health, and PSRC Vice-President

• Jerin Juby, Department Chair, Thomas Jefferson University, and PSRC President-Elect

The committee developed materials to be shared with students and advisors, which are  attached to this email. These materials contain information regarding current CoARC-accredited respiratory therapy programs in PA and other information.   

We share  this with you so that you can be inspired to reach out to a local school, a student, or an advisor to tell them about our profession. Certainly, we need #moreRTs, and you can make an impact in supporting the initiatives. Every bit counts! 

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Sincerely,

PSRC HOSA Committee