Officials report the job market in Kentucky for respiratory therapists is growing and still short of workers following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marlene Vice is the Respiratory Care Program Coordinator at Maysville Community and Technical College. She said the success rate of students who complete their courses and move on to take the CRT and RRT exams is very high and the program’s job placement rate is 100 percent. Vice said most of the time students go on to work at hospitals, but not always.
“But, there’s home health, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, that respiratory therapists can work at. And then they come on and be a respiratory instructor after that. But most of the time they’re going to go into the hospital facilities to work as respiratory therapists,” said Vice.
Vice said the best part about the MCTC program is that everything a student needs to know to become a successful respiratory therapist is taught in two years or four semesters.
“After their very first semester, they can go into the field and become a student therapist - and those students are making anywhere from $19 an hour and up,” said Vice. “As a student therapist that helps them get their foot in the door and that these facilities work around their school schedules and all of that. Usually, those students are hired there- after they graduate, they’ve already got a job.”
Attendance at one of four October pre-admission conferences is mandatory to enter the program, as are general education classes that students can complete at MSU, Ashland or Maysville Community and Technical Colleges. The deadline to apply is November 15.
More information is available at the Maysville Community and Technical College website.