Welcome to the second edition of the
semi-annual publication of the Nevada Society for
Respiratory Care. The goal of this newsletter is
to keep the respiratory care community informed
pertinent information as it relates to the practice
of respiratory care.
   ·        HR 3968/S 2704: The Medicare Respiratory
Therapy Initiative. This bill would permit
Bachelors degree RRTs to perform certain
services such as asthma education and
management, home care visits, and act as a
physician extender without having a
physician physically on site. This bill was
introduced in the House in October 2007,
and in the Senate on March 5, 2008.

·        S 1484/HR 621: The Medicare Home Oxygen
Patient Protection Act of 2007. As of
January 2006, home oxygen therapy
patients are being required to own and
maintain their own equipment after a 36
month rental period. This bill seeks to repeal
this 36-month ownership provision. At issue
are serious patient health and safety
concerns. This bill currently has the support
of NV Reps. Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter.
·       
HR1108/S 625: The Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This bill
was introduced in both houses in February
2007. In this bill, Congress would give the
FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.
Already this bill has broad support in both
houses, with NV Rep. Shelley Berkley
supporting it.

More information on all of these bills can be found
on the AARC’s website. Please contact your
Congressmen and Senators urging them to
support these initiatives. To contact your elected
representatives via email or regular mail, this can
be easily done via the AARC’s website also. Go to
www.aarc.org, click on the Government Affairs link,
and then go to AARC’s Capitol Connection. Where
it says “Find Your Officials,” simply type in your zip
code. It is very easy to do and only takes a few
minutes.
NSRC TIMES
A Newsletter of the Nevada Society for Respiratory Care
State Society Presidents’ Meeting
Pam Biglow-Hearst took a trip to Dallas, TX in
March for the State Society Presidents’ Meeting. As
the NSRC’s President-elect, she will assume
leadership duties this fall at the conclusion of this
year’s elections. The meeting is to prepare the
Presidents-elect of each state for their duties.
AARC President Toni Rodriguez was an inspirational
speaker at the conference.

Upcoming Events
House of Delegates
In July, John Steinmetz and Lori Johnston will be
attending the AARC Summer Forum in Phoenix,
AZ. John and Lori will be representing the NSRC as
Delegates at the biannual meeting. There are many
resolutions on the agenda to discuss.

2008 NSRC State Meeting
The NSRC is putting together a two-day
conference to be held September 8th and 9th at
The Orleans. It will offer 10 CRCE’s; there will be a
Sputum Bowl competition; and a business meeting
of the NSRC where the newly elected officers will be
installed. There are several excellent speakers lined
up. Vender will be there to display their wares.
Bonnie Weaver, Denise Warrick, John Steinmetz,
Alex Carabajal, Peggy Alby and Kevita White-Leslie
serve on the Planning Committee.
Watch for emails and flyers as the event draws
near. The goal is to make this an annual event.  

Miscellaneous News
Sputum Bowl
As mentioned above, there will be a Sputum Bowl
competition at the NSRC conference. As of now,
we have some student teams who will be
competing against each other. The winning team at
this event will take part in the AARC’s Student
Sputum Bowl contest in December at the
International Congress. This year’s Congress will
be held in Anaheim, CA.
We would also love to send a practitioner team to
the AARC International Congress. Anyone who is
interested should contact Connie Small at
conkerdoodle@hotmail. com. We need to get
participants together to start practicing and dust
off that stored away knowledge. It would be great
to have a student team and a practitioner team
representing Nevada on a national level at this
event.


Click here for previous NSRC times
   Recent Graduates
The College of Southern Nevada and Pima Medical
Institute recently graduated many new RCPs. We
welcome them to the exciting field of respiratory
care. As practitioners, we must serve as mentors
to these new graduates helping them to grow in
their experience and knowledge.
Also, many of us serve as preceptors to the
growing body of student respiratory therapists.
We should consider this an honor and take this
privilege seriously. They will only be as good as the
training they receive. It is up to us to make sure
they get the best experience possible.

Condolences
The respiratory community has seen the passing
of several RCPs this past year. We at the NSRC
would like to express our sympathy to the families
of these RCPs. They will be missed.

NSRC Website
The NSRC has a new website that has been up
and running for about six months now. It is a
significant improvement over the previous site.
Please take a minute to check it out at
www.nsrc.us. On it you will find information on the
current board members, meeting dates, meeting
minutes, a calendar of events, and useful links to
such sites as the AARC and NBRC. Bonnie Weaver
is doing a great job as Webmaster. Any
interesting news, comments or questions can be
forwarded to Bonnie at:
bon_weaver@yahoo.com.

Meeting Information
The NSRC meets the third Tuesday of every
month at Kindred Hospital, 2250 East Flamingo
Road, Las Vegas, in the Board Room at 7:00 pm.
It is conference-called with Renown Medical Center,
21 Locust Street, Reno, NV in the Respiratory
Therapy Department. Anyone is welcome to
attend. Please note that in July there is a schedule
change: the meeting will be on the fourth
Tuesday, July 22nd.

Contact Information
If anyone has any news of interest that they
would like included in the next newsletter due out
in January, please contact anyone on the Board,
or Bonnie Weaver via the NSRC website, or Connie
Small at conkerdoodle@hotmail.com. The mailing
address for the NSRC is:
Nevada Society for Respiratory Care
PO Box 28686
Las Vegas, NV 89126