PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some Berkshire Community College faculty are asking the board of trustees to take a deep breath before shutting down its respiratory care program. 

 

BCC hasn't made a determination on the accredited program, but it is on pause and under review. 

 

Two faculty members in the program, Margaret Goss, director of clinical education, and Thomas Carey, a professor of allied health, advocated to keep the program at Tuesday's trustees meeting and highlighted its importance in producing local respiratory therapists. 

 

They fear that if the program were to be discontinued, the area would face a shortage of health-care professionals in that field. 

 

"We are very passionate about the respiratory care program here at BCC and since COVID, many more people appreciate the value of and the need for respiratory therapists," Goss said during a public comment segment that is not a regular part of the board's meetings. 

 

"I understand the need for small programs like ours to be reviewed in order to ensure profitability or at lest to be fiscally responsible but what I would like to emphasize to you is the need to responsible in our community." 

 

With a respiratory care health sciences associate's degree, graduates help treat patients with cardiopulmonary illnesses such as asthma or heart failure under a physician's supervision. Respiratory therapists works in settings such as hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, and home care. 

 

Goss said more than 100 million Americans are affected by respiratory disorders and more respiratory therapists, or RTs, can work to meet the high demand. 

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 135,000 respiratory therapists currently working in the United States and an estimated need for about 31,000 more. 

 

Goss also broke down local statistics for RTs, which showed that there are currently 86 working within a 35-mile radius of Pittsfield.  

 

Twenty respiratory therapists graduated and were licensed before 1995 and a dozen graduated between 1996 and 2000. She pointed out that the first group is likely to retire in the next 10 years or so followed by the next group. 

 

"Of that 86, 53 graduated after 2001 and since 2001, BCC has graduated 56 respiratory therapists, so you can see that not many graduates have left the area, some have retired, a few have moved away and sadly a few are deceased," Goss said. 

 

"BCC's retention rates have been exceptional, mostly due to small size of our program and the fact that students mean more to us than just a number."

 

Locally, there are 35 available full-time positions for respiratory therapists. She added that this shows the need and will be become more overwhelming as time passes. Goss asked that the board monitors and upholds the transparency of the review process for the program. 

 

Carey highlighted the program's accreditation. 

 

"Recently, BCC's administration has decided to close the respiratory care program after an extremely successful run for 39 years despite the critical shortage of respiratory therapists, we're hoping the board of trustees can help save the program from closing," he said. 

 

"Just last May, the program had a very successful 10-year accreditation site visit by our accreditors, the creditors are called CoARC, it's the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care, we received full accreditation without any citations by our creditors so it was squeaky clean. ...

 

"Our last graduating class, although it was underenrolled, we had 100 percent student retention, 100 percent pass rate on their credentialing boards and 100 percent job placement." 

 

Carey added that the chief nursing officer at Berkshire Medical Center, Brenda Cadorette, said at a January advisory committee meeting that the nursing workload is at capacity and they rely on respiratory therapists to help. 

 

This will be on the agenda for the college's next Academic Affairs Committee meeting. 

 

Earlier in the year, BCC was awarded a $350,000 grant for new simulation equipment for its nursing programs from the Community Project Funding secured by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal. 

 

The labs simulate health-care settings to offer training and clinical experience. BCC's equipment has not received much in the way of upgrades since 2009. 

 

In other news, a number of new BCC faculty were welcomed at this meeting including former Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Executive Director Cheryl Mirer.  She joined the college in February as an enrollment councilor and Rebecca Brien took over as the new managing director of Downtown Pittsfield Inc. 

 

The college is also planning its 2022 awards night in person at the Boland Theatre on June 2 at 6 p.m.