On September 17, 2025, the LSSC Respiratory Care Club (RCC) held its first ever open house inside the South Lake campus’ Science & Health Building. The Angler’s team attended the event, learned more about the club, and interviewed some of the club’s members.
Open House
The open house was located in the Respiratory Care Lab Room 132. Upon entering the event’s location, we were welcomed by the club’s Safety Officer Andrew Larose, Secretary Alyssia Gray, and Faculty Advisor Adrianne Kowalski. Initially, Andrew and Alyssia gave us a visual demonstration of how a vest airway clearance system is used. It is a mechanical vest that is used for patients who need help with their secretions and coughing. The vibrations given by the vest help loosen the secretion in a patient’s lungs.
Then, both members walked us to one of the lab’s skill stations. They turned on one of the station’s nebulizers, which produced a small volume of mist surrounding the station’s mannequin. The nebulizer is an oxygen device that provides a variety of lung medications to patients who experience respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Afterwards, they both showed us the exhibits displayed around the lab’s room. The majority of these exhibits were made by students who are part of LSSC’s Respiratory Care program. For the program’s second semester, as part of their final group project, the students were assigned to create an exhibit describing how the heart and lungs function together. Andrew and Alyssia shared with us their exhibit, which was a 3D-printed heart and lungs. Both organs were printed and painted by the two of them.
The Respiratory Care Club
When asked about the RCC, Alyssia commented on its goals and what students can expect from its meetings.
“The Respiratory Care Club focuses on education, exposure, and connection. We host information sessions and share firsthand experiences about the critical role respiratory therapists play in patient care. We arrange campus events where students can see and try respiratory equipment, observe demonstrations, and meet practicing respiratory therapists. We invite guest speakers and alumni, so prospective students can hear real career stories and learn about job demand and advancement opportunities. By showcasing how rewarding and in-demand this field is, we help students see why Respiratory Care can be the right fit compared with other health-science paths.”
According to her fellow members, Alyssia also played a major role in the club’s founding, alongside achieving the goal of creating the club this semester. RCC Vice President Chloe Dotson confirmed that Alyssia greatly contributed to the club’s inception.
“She was the big hand in delivering and getting forms processed, submitting paperworks, and collecting the information from the students as well, to submit for approval. She is the main driver in this.”
The club did make an appearance in this semester’s Welcome Back Bash with their own dedicated booth. Faculty Advisor Adrianne Kowalski also stated that their club is apparently the first from LSSC to solely focus on respiratory care.
Interview with the Club’s President and Vice President
During the open house, The Angler had the opportunity of interviewing both RCC President Nayla Abdalla and Vice President Chloe Dotson. Throughout the interview, both spoke with honesty, displayed their passion for respiratory care, and kindly answered our questions about the respiratory care program and club respectively:
What inspired a club about respiratory care?
Nayla: Honestly, just getting more people involved because respiratory therapy is a profession not a lot of people know about. A lot of people know about nursing or going to med school and stuff, but respiratory, they’re always there. Any trauma, anything critical happening, you always have respiratory. We need a lot more people in this profession. So, we created the club, so that we can advertise that. Show people what we’re on about. What we do.
Chloe: We’re like the underdogs everywhere we go, in the hospitals and now in schools. So, it’s nice to kind of build that rapport, so other people can be encouraged to join our program.
Why should people be interested in this club?
Nayla: If a lot of people want to go into the medical field, and if you don’t know what to do in the medical field, respiratory is a great profession and that [finding a profession in the medical field] is something we can help teach [in the club]. And if you are interested in respiratory, like she [Chloe] said, you can join the program. From there, it’s something that there’s so much to learn and do, and I think we might even do other stuff to figure out. We’re doing some planning, so nothing’s official yet, but we’re trying to make it [the club] more interactive for everybody too.
What personally led you to respiratory care?
Nayla: Well, I worked as a nursing assistant for a little bit, so I was always on that nursing path. Being there, working in the nursing field, I fell in love with nursing. But also, respiratory was something I always saw in the corner of my eye. It was something I didn’t even know about, until I started working there, and I started asking some questions around, and coincidentally they [LSSC] opened this program at the same time that I had just heard about respiratory. So, I was like, “You know what? I think that might be the way to go.”
Chloe: I was interested in the medical field, I always wanted that “adrenaline rush,” but I also liked that in respiratory therapy, respiratory therapists have a lot of freedom when it comes to their patients, going throughout the hospitals, and providing that care. We also gain a lot of the doctors’ trust, and I found all that information out because my mom’s best friends with therapists, so she kind of introduced that door to me.
How would the Respiratory Care program help those who are interested in joining the medical field?
Nayla: [When] you’re in the program, you’re getting an associate’s to be a respiratory therapist. You’re in the field, and you’re learning so many different things. For example, I started this program with respiratory. I started clinicals at South Lake Hospital, and as I did clinicals and worked with so many different people, physician assistant caught my mind. Med school caught my mind. You can always advance with respiratory. For example, after I graduate and get my bachelor’s, I can join a PA (Physician Assistant) school and become a physician assistant. So, it [the program] can be used as a stepping stone to go to other places.
Chloe: Even if you use the program as just like a “foot in the door” to get access to other opportunities, respiratory therapists are growing and their education is as well. And it’s just showing that respiratory therapists are growing in the medical field. If you want to advance through respiratory therapy, there’s always avenues. There’s plenty of respiratory therapists that also go to nursing school to have that dual work as nurses and RTs (respiratory therapists) at the same time.
Any general advice in regards to respiratory care?
Chloe: Once you’re a student, I feel like you’re always eager for “the bigger the better.” But I think it’s also important to realize that even the floor therapy of giving nebulizer treatments and stuff like that is important, just as important as warning that code patient or that acute respiratory failure patient. Just keeping that in mind. That no matter what you’re doing. You’re always providing help to the patient.
Nayla: And everything you do is important.
Chloe: It’s in the best interest of the patients.
Is the club exclusively for medical students?
Chloe: No, if you’re interested, you’re more than welcome to join us.
Nayla: If you’re interested, come join us. The club is a welcoming door for everybody.
Do you have any closing thoughts or remarks for other students?
Nayla: Focus on what you are doing. Don’t listen to the people who are trying to stray you from what you want to do. Don’t let anybody think less of you because of what you’re doing.
Overall, from simply attending the event, one can truly recognize the fiery, infectious, and genuine passion all of these students have for respiratory care. Interacting with these students helps one realize the hard work, effort, and importance of respiratory therapists.
The RCC’s next open house will be on October 22 from 4pm-6pm at the South Lake campus’ Science & Health Building. According to Nayla and Chloe, the event will focus on the intensive care unit (ICU) medical department, and attendees will learn about topics such as intubation, ventilators, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
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Bartholomeul III • Sep 22, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Very nice article, I was very intrigued by this article since I myself want to be in the medical community (I don’t think i’ll have to do this though). I really liked the 3D models of the heart and the lungs that Andrew and Alyssia made. Love how Chloe said they’re the underdogs everywhere they go. Overall, it was a very nice and detailed article 5/5 stars.