By DAVID CLOUSTON

Salina Journal

Their classmates are more than 100 miles away, but Stephanie Mikesell and Paige Enriquez are participating in class at Washburn University as though they were sitting with them in their classroom.

In August, Washburn became the first university in Kansas to offer respiratory therapy courses with Internet instruction through a virtual classroom established at Salina Regional Health Center.

Salina launched its outreach program through Washburn to assist a growing challenge in finding qualified therapists for various occasional vacancies on its staff. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that yearly there are 8,000 vacancies for respiratory therapists, while the number of students graduating is only about 4,000, said Dr. Pat Munzer, Washburn's Allied Health Department chair and respiratory therapy director.

The two-year associate's degree program accepts two students a year from Salina. Applications for the two available slots in the 2008 program are due by Feb. 1, and the courses begin in August.

For those who complete the program and go to work for the Salina hospital, the hospital will repay up to $10,800 in student loan expenses -- the bulk of the students' tuition costs.

Both Mikesell and Enriquez were chosen from a field of 20 applicants. Both started out wanting to be nurses. Mikesell, originally of Belleville, attended Fort Hays State for two years, while Enriquez was preparing to enter Kansas Wesleyan's nursing program.

Respiratory therapists give medications to help patients with breathing. Among their duties, they manage ventilator use by patients after surgery and they assist patients who arrive at the emergency room with breathing problems due to an emergency, such as a heart attack.

"Our role is kind of transforming a bit, to a lot more prevention and education and assessment, than it has in the past," said David Mantz, Salina Regional's director of respiratory care.

Respiratory therapists would earn about $36,500 to start at Salina Regional, while someone with 10 years' experience could earn about $44,500 annually, a human resources department representative said.

Helping patients in distress made respiratory therapy an appealing career choice, Mikesell said.

"To me, it was the ability to help people when they need it really fast. I like being able to work in a fast-pace environment with the ability to think on your feet," she said.

Enriquez, a widow with three sons, liked the opportunity to stay based in Salina with a good job after she finishes the course. She moved here from Dallas in 1996.

"I thought specializing in one area was interesting," she said.

Mantz said jobs in the field are always in demand, and graduates have the opportunity to work in settings ranging from hospitals to sleep disorder labs and home health agencies.

Most of the hospital training is provided at Salina Regional under the direction of respiratory therapy staff, although through the program, the students also will receive clinical experience at hospitals in Topeka and Kansas City.

Each semester the Salina students will do at least six days of clinical study visiting those hospitals, said Washburn's Munzer.

"Just to get them exposure to all aspects of respiratory care that Salina may not have as much of," she said.

"We have excellent equipment and technology," Mantz said. "But they're not going to see the helicopter-critical patients, those with higher-need care."

In their Salina classroom, the women can view and talk with other students and the professor through the Internet hookup. The technology provides the ability to switch from displaying the professor to displaying a Powerpoint presentation on the screen.

"I thought it worked nicely. It was like it was live," Enriquez said.

Salina Regional explored respiratory therapy programs with several colleges before partnering with Washburn. Washburn also has five students from its allied health and social work departments doing internships in Salina, in such fields as medical sonography and radiation therapy.

The new respiratory therapy program replaces a partnership that formerly existed with an out-of-state school. But all the clinical training in that program took place solely at Salina Regional.

"Having variety helps in everything we do," Mantz said of the students' ability to experience other hospitals.

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.