Rooms were loud and crowded with people excited to observe all of the technology on display.
Attendees from El Camino College came to see what the respiratory program was all about inside the Math Business Allied Health building
The staff and the students of the program were anxious but excited to demonstrate what they do.
Inside the rooms were a girl doll mannequin simulator named Athena, a virtual reality simulator dealing with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and a pig lungs comparing a healthy lung to a smoker’s lung.
The respiratory care program had its first open house on April 3, in Rooms 405, 415 and 418 in the Math Business Allied Health Building.
Each room had a different theme for the people who attended the event. Room 405 had hospital scenarios, Room 415 was a pulmonary function test exhibit and Room 418 was cardiology virtual reality.
The open house showed off what goes on in the program and what the students study, such as the human body and how we breathe. They also work with people of all ages dealing with allergies, asthma, CPR, life support, and any scenarios that can occur with patients in a hospital setting.
“This event took me months to prepare, I was really nervous about today. Just wanted everything to go well and it did. I’m glad we had a big turnout and people enjoyed the open house,” Victoria Robertson, respiratory care professor and Clinical Education coordinator said. “Our goal is to prepare the students for hospitals and get them into hospitals.”
At the open house, around 130 people attended, going from room to room examining and participating with the different stations that the program had to offer and showcase.
A lot of brand new equipment was displayed at the open house such as the virtual reality scenario dealing with CPR patients, the new baby girl doll mannequin simulator, and the mannequin Athena that simulates someone who is pregnant on a ventilator.
“The virtual reality scenario is huge for this program because it gives our students a real feeling of what can happen to a patient when CPR is performed. Also the new baby girl doll simulator and mannequin really makes the students hand on”. El Camino professor Ian Jenkins said. “Overall each new piece of equipment costs around $600 to $700.”
During the open house, there were other virtual reality simulators that caught a lot of people’s attention, showing what the heart looks like while being inside of it.
Another piece on display was the pig lungs which had attendees touch it and see how it looks enlarged. It compared and contrasted healthy lungs with a smoker’s lungs.
“This is really cool how they have this open house for the public, it’s very exciting and interesting,” Board of Trustee Brett C.S. Roberts said.
A lot of students in the program were excited that the open house was a success and were glad to display the equipment to the public and showcase what they learn.
“Today was a huge success for us. We are grateful that people came out to see it, I joined this program to help people and I hope to achieve a better outlook for respiratory therapists, there’s so much we do,” Katlin Cumlat, respiratory care major, said.
