Respiratory therapy student lands full-time position with generous signing bonus

Paulette Chevalier spent two decades in the insurance business before pursuing a medical career as a respiratory therapist.

“I wanted to get out of the cubicle and into patient care. I felt like this was my higher calling,” Chevalier said.

Chevalier started with an anatomy and physiology class at Tidewater Community College and is now close to completing an associate degree in Respiratory Therapy. She says the college had an array of resources that made it easy to succeed. “As a seasoned student, I appreciated the library staff, tutoring and the support of my professors,” she said.

Chevalier was recently offered a full-time position at Riverside Hospital with a $20,000 signing bonus. Once she earns her associate degree in May 2022, she will be working in a field she loves. “I walked away from a great career because I knew this was my passion,” she said.

Chevalier at the Regional Health Professions Center.

Chevalier began taking classes before the pandemic and had to adjust to learning online. She is grateful to be back in the high-simulation lab for hands-on training. “Being able to put my hands on the equipment and work with simulated patients has been so beneficial. It’s been the key to learning lifesaving treatments.”

The Respiratory Therapy program includes clinical rotations in area hospitals interspersed with classroom and lab work. “We do a lot of critical thinking in class, and seeing the work done in the field really helps solidify the concepts,” she said.

Chevalier is working on her required clinical rotation hours at Lake Taylor hospital and has also done clinicals at Sentara, Bon Secours and Riverside hospitals.

Chevalier says that she chose TCC because her husband, Akil Chevalier, is an alum of the college. He earned an information technology associate degree before moving on for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in IT.

“I really never considered going anywhere else. I knew TCC was affordable and I’d get a quality education,” the mom of two added.

She continued by adding, “I can’t say enough good things about respiratory therapy as a career. We’re trained to make independent decisions about patient care while working as part of the critical care team. If you are looking to provide patient care, but want to master a speciality, respiratory therapy is the way to go.”

To learn more about the Respiratory Therapy program, prospective students are invited to Open House, which is held on the third Thursday of each month (except December) at 3 p.m. in the Regional Health Professions building on the Virginia Beach Campus. Email Program Director Denise Bieszczad at dbieszczad@email.vccs.edu for more information.

Ten things to know about TCC’s Respiratory Therapy program

Tidewater Community College is on the front lines of training today’s respiratory therapists. TCC students learn in a state-of-the-art high-fidelity simulation laboratory enabling them to develop problem-solving skills with immediate feedback from faculty. Here are ten reasons why this may be the career for you.

Jennifer Briggs, Director of Clinical Education, with students Kia Stankowski and Krystal Hartman.
Kimberly Spear and Corey Minnick manually breathe for a “patient.”
Students Randy Kelton, Kia Stankowski and Justine Moutchou intubate a “patient” during a lab.

Tidewater Community College’s Respiratory Therapy program is a recipient of the 2021 Registered Respiratory Therapy Distinguished Credentialing Success Award. TCC’s program is one of eight in the nation to receive this distinction from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) for eight consecutive years.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of TCC’s graduates in Respiratory Therapy and other health care fields. The college continues to provide critical training for front line health care workers.
The pass rate for students taking the Respiratory Therapy credentialing exam to become a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) is 100%.
Most TCC graduates have jobs before graduating with some even receiving lucrative sign-on bonuses.
The Respiratory Therapy program is offered at TCC’s Regional Health Professions building on the Virginia Beach Campus. The state-of-the-art facility offers a high-fidelity simulation laboratory that allows faculty to provide students with the most authentic educational experience.
The college even has its own ventilators to train students on how to provide lifesaving support when needed.
TCC offers the only Respiratory Therapy associate degree program in Hampton Roads.
The college also partners with all major area health care providers to offer clinical rotations for students. Because of this exposure, students work alongside respiratory care practitioners developing health care plans and evaluating therapies using critical thinking. They see firsthand the real-world benefits of working as a team to solve life-threatening clinical problems daily.
The main skills students learn are therapies to enhance ventilation and oxygenation of the body. Therapists can work in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and diagnostic laboratories.
Prospective students can learn more about the program at https://www.tcc.edu/programs/respiratory-therapy/ or by attending an open house, which is held on the third Thursday of each month (except December) at 3 p.m. in the Regional Health Professions building on the Virginia Beach Campus. Email Program Director Denise Bieszczad at dbieszczad@email.vccs.edu for more information.

Join TCC in honoring our front-line health care workers during Respiratory Care Week, Oct. 24-30. For more than 18 months, respiratory therapists have been on the front lines more than usual. COVID-19 has forced respiratory therapists into new territory like never before. So many have worked countless hours away from their loved ones, risked their personal health and the health of their families, traveled across the United States to assist in COVID-19 surge cities, and so much more.

Respiratory therapy grad on the frontlines

“Bring it on!”

Taylor Moneypenny never imagined starting her career as a respiratory therapist during a pandemic caused by a virus that affects the respiratory system.

But after a circuitous route, the Chesapeake resident, who graduated from Tidewater Community College with an Associate of Applied Science in Respiratory Therapy in May 2020, will start her job at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD) confident and prepared.

“I signed up to do this, and I’m ready,” said the honors graduate.

Taylor Moneypenny explains how a pig lung is similar to a human lung to Gov. Ralph Northam during his visit to the Regional Health Professions Center in February.

Respiratory therapists evaluate and monitor the heart and lung functions of patients, helping them breathe better. They often treat premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed, teens struggling with asthma or elderly patients battling lung diseases.

But right now, their primary focus is on helping people recover after contacting COVID-19.

It’s not a field that Moneypenny, a 2014 graduate of Hickory High, initially considered. She prepared for a career in therapeutic recreation by working toward a bachelor’s degree at Old Dominion University when a couple of factors converged.

An internship at Norfolk General gave her a window into respiratory therapy, as did watching her grandmother, diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, receive treatment from a respiratory therapist who graduated from TCC.

“I decided to pursue a career in respiratory therapy after seeing how much respiratory therapists impact their patients’ lives and wellbeing,” said Moneypenny, 23, who is also president of the college’s respiratory therapy club.

The classes were a grind in the competitive program, but a tireless work ethic and support of peers helped her balance the heavy load. She credits program head Denise Bieszczad with making the content relatable. The program boasts a 100 percent pass rate on the credentialing exam.

“When I take practice tests, I’m so well prepared,” Moneypenny said. “Without Denise, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

Clinical rotations at Riverside Regional, CHKD, Sentara Virginia Beach General, Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital, Sentara Leigh and Sentara Norfolk General provided real-world experience. Moneypenny spent this semester working as a student aide at CHKD, and she’ll be ready to start in the field initially in a shadowing role until she can take the national exam.

One day she plans to work toward a master’s, but for now, she looks forward to what she calls the best part of the job. Contributing to a patient turning the corner back toward a healthy life, she said, is gratifying.

“You have to have a heart for helping people,” she said. “It’s not an option to say no; you have to be able to help others. You have to be caring. If you don’t have that attitude, this field is not for you.”

TCC’s Respiratory Therapy program earns national recognition

Tidewater Community College’s Respiratory Therapy program is a recipient of the 2021 Registered Respiratory Therapy Distinguished Credentialing Success Award.

TCC’s program is one of eight in the nation to receive this distinction from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) for eight consecutive years.

TCC offers one of eight respiratory therapy programs in the state. Five are associate degree and three are bachelor’s degree programs.

TCC Respiratory Therapy graduate Daniel Velazquez.

“The COVID-19 pandemic certainly highlighted the importance of our graduates,” said Denise Bieszczad, program head for respiratory therapy at the college. “We provide critical training for front line health care workers and have continuously had the highest pass rates on national examinations of any school in Virginia, even those programs offering bachelor’s degrees.”

She attributes the program’s success to several factors, including the Regional Health Professions Center on the Virginia Beach Campus. The state-of-the-art facility offers a high-fidelity simulation laboratory that allows faculty to provide students with the most authentic educational experience.

Respiratory Therapy lab and simulators on the Virginia Beach Campus.

The college also partners with all major area health care providers to offer clinical rotations for students.

“Because of this exposure, our students get to observe respiratory care practitioners developing health care plans and evaluating therapies using critical thinking,” Bieszczad said. “They see firsthand the real-world benefits of working as a team to solve life-threatening clinical problems every day.”

Program Head Denise Bieszczad arranged to donate TCC ventilators to Sentara hospitals during the height of the pandemic.

Award winners must have three or more years of outcomes data; hold accreditation without a progress report; document registered respiratory therapy credentialing success of 90 percent or above; and meet or exceed established CoARC thresholds for certified respiratory therapist credentialing success, attrition and job placement.

For more information about the college’s Respiratory Therapy program, contact Bieszczad at 757-822-7412 or dbieszczad@tcc.edu.

Respiratory Therapy program prepared TCC alum to be on front lines of COVID-19

Walking into a clinical simulation lab at Tidewater Community College, Justin Seemueller never knew what to expect.

The unique possibilities – a child suffering from an asthma attack to a lung cancer patient gasping for breath – ranged from moderate to life-altering.

As a student in the college’s Respiratory Therapy program, he understood that reacting correctly with a camera recording all of his actions did more than affect his grade. “It prepared me for exactly what I’m doing now,” said Seemueller, a respiratory clinical specialist at Norfolk General Hospital, where 14-hour days are commonplace to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Back then, I thought it was a cruel joke – entering a room and having to respond on camera for a simulation we weren’t prepared for,” said Seemueller, who earned his Associate of Applied Science in Respiratory Therapy from TCC in 2010. “Actually, that was the best part of the program. Instead of being thrown into the wild west of life-saving situations, I have the muscle memory of knowing what to do.”

“Warriors for health. An essential component for patients. A keystone in the COVID-19 battle,” is how Tom Kallstrom, executive director of the American Association of Respiratory Care, describes respiratory therapists, who are on the front lines alongside physicians fighting COVID-19, which attacks the respiratory system and lungs.

Approximately 80 percent of respiratory therapists at Sentara Norfolk graduated from TCC’s nationally accredited program where, almost without exception, all are employed prior to commencement. “TCC puts out the best of the best,” Seemueller said.

Seemueller has an added twist to his role thanks to his engineering aptitude. Collaborating directly with engineers at Old Dominion University, he’s designing a reusable protective mask for healthcare workers. By relying on existing resources, specifically, CPAP masks used to treat sleep apnea, he created design specs for an alternative to the standard N95 masks, which are in short supply nationally.

Seemueller’s engineering aptitude was key in designing an adapter for the masks.

To be effective, masks must include high-level viral filters and be perfectly sealed, both of which can be accomplished by using an adaptor that a 3D printer can spit out. Those are being printed at ODU and distributed to all Sentara facilities and locally to combat a potential shortage.

“We can equip people with perfect type seal masks that are far superior to what they are using currently,” Seemueller said.

The Kellam High graduate didn’t grow up wanting to be part of a medical team. He found the TCC program after earning a bachelor’s in philosophy from Radford University. He considered law school but found himself instead drawn to a profession that blends technical expertise with medical care.

“I like the marriage of the two,” he said.

He touts the passion of program head Denise Bieszczad – who taught his father, Bob, also a respiratory therapist. “She pours her heart and soul into the program and she could not have prepared me any better,” he said.

Simulations, which allow mistakes with Android patients as opposed to real people, helped Seemueller master the clinical rotations he completed at Riverside Regional, Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Chesapeake Regional, Sentara Bayside, Sentara Virginia Beach General and Norfolk General.

“The clinical hours prepare you for what the job is all about,” he said.

Often that means seeing people on the worst day of their lives. “It’s bittersweet sometimes; we’re in a narrow section of the healthcare process,” Seemueller said. “We don’t always know the end result.

“But sometimes you’ll have family members remember you a year or two later and say how helpful you were. When that happens, it means a lot.”