Peggy Lange

When I was hired at CentraCare, I was respiratory therapist (RT) #6.  That was 42 years ago. I worked the floors, worked nights and several other roles before my position now, which is leading an amazing team of RTs at St. Cloud Hospital. As RTs, our goal is always to make breathing easier for patients. That hasn’t changed, but the pandemic changed a lot – particularly the number of patients needing respiratory therapy, the acuity of those patients and the amount of protection we needed to be safe for the patients and ourselves.

“As RTs, our goal is always to make breathing easier for patients.”

Peggy Lange, Director, Respiratory Care, St. Cloud Hospital

There have been devastating times during this pandemic, and sometimes it’s overwhelming. Our teams, which include 56 RTs working across the system, have experienced so much despair and death. But it’s not just one or two things that make it difficult – it’s the whole emotion of it all. And through it all, our respiratory therapists have been just remarkable, caring for our patients and each other.

I do worry about the impact all of this is having on our caregivers because of everything they’ve been through. I don’t think we know what the long-term effects will be, but I believe that sharing our experiences, emotions and supporting each other as we heal from this will help us move forward.