For Respiratory Care Week 2020 (Oct. 26-30) We Are West Park applauded respiratory care professionals like Moslema Begum.

Moslema is a Respiratory Therapist (RT) who has worked at West Park Healthcare Centre for 16 years. As a clinical student, Moslema was drawn to West Park for its green space and natural environment. 

After working here as a student, she was hired as an employee and hasn’t looked back. As an RT, Moslema has worked in all respiratory areas of the hospital and most recently in our new long-term ventilatory unit.

“I chose to become a respiratory therapist because it involves direct patient care and bedside care. The patients we see are very critically ill, and we can help them in the moment and that’s what I wanted to do coming into this field. RTs play a major role in clinical care when a patient is acutely ill or having breathing problems. If a patient’s oxygen saturation level is dropping and carbon dioxide level rising significantly, we are hands-on, fixing the problem. We also play a major role when a rapid response or code blue is called, resuscitating a patient or performing CPR. These are the times I really enjoy working directly with patients to make their lives better. Some days are challenging, but I never regret becoming an RT, and every day I feel like I am learning something new. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, we opened a new long-term ventilatory unit and within a short time, we were admitting new patients from the ICU who needed much more complex care than West Park’s usual patient population. So that was a challenge, but I learn new skills every day working here, so it’s worth it.”