High-tech vest elevates Respiratory Therapy training
Dec 10, 2025Respiratory Therapy students at Rockingham Community College have a new piece of state-of-the-art equipment, funded by the quarter-cent sales tax Rockingham County voters passed in 2018.
A $15,000 Philips InCourage vest therapy system arrived in October, and replaces a vest donated more than a decade ago by a patient’s family that finally stopped working.
“It is a crucial piece of equipment because students see that unit in the hospital,” said Angela Pruitt, director of RCC’s Respiratory Therapy program and assistant professor.
“Chest physiotherapy vests are a safe and effective way to clear mucus from the lungs and airways,” she said. “Used regularly, vest therapy may lead to a better quality of life for patients with chronic airway inflammation, lung infections, and cystic fibrosis.”
She said patients typically use it for 20 minutes, three or four times a day, in a clinic or at home.
The new vest offers faster warm-up, adjustable sizing, and stronger oscillation to break up mucus.
The InCourage vest is one of the pieces of equipment Pruitt brings when she needs to represent the Respiratory Therapy program at events, to give visitors a hands-on experience.
“We go to every career fair – our clinical sites are good about inviting us,” Pruitt said.
The vest is used for outreach at local schools, and at the Envision Expo each October, which brings Rockingham County seventh and 10th grade students to campus for interactive career exploration. It’s been used for open houses, and students visited the RT lab twice this fall from the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Innovative High School that opened in August on campus.
In addition to the vest, students get hands-on lab experience learning to ventilate, intubate, extubate, perform arterial blood gas procedures, care for tracheostomies, administer surfactant, and take a neonatal class and learn pharmacology.
Ruth Underwood also works in the Respiratory Therapy program, as director of Clinical Education and assistant professor.
The program has 16 clinical sites for students to gain real-world experience. In recent years, clinic staff oversaw the RT students, but with an enrollment increase this fall, RCC hired four clinical instructors who work with groups of students at the clinics.
“Like Nursing, you can earn your degree, but you can’t work in the field until you pass your board exams,” Pruitt said. “Everything students learn from day one is on those boards, so we encourage students to keep all of their presentations and materials for review.”
Pruitt herself is a 2004 graduate of RCC’s RT program. After working 14 years at the former Morehead Hospital in Eden and then three years at Alamance Regional, she was hired by RCC.
“I went into Respiratory Therapy because I was a single mom, and I wanted to get into healthcare,” she said. “The Nursing program had a waitlist, and I didn’t have time to wait, so I enrolled in Respiratory Therapy. Everything fell into place at the right time. My great aunt was on a home ventilator, but I didn’t make the connection until after I enrolled in the program.”
Respiratory Therapy is a five-semester program at RCC that leads to an associate in applied science degree. Fall 2025 was the first time in the eight years that Pruitt has been at RCC that Respiratory Therapy had a waitlist for the 28 seats available to new students entering the program. Total enrollment for freshmen and sophomores grew 57%, from 35 students in fall 2024 to 55 in fall 2025.
Pruitt said two of her students are friends of an RT student who graduated in May 2025. The current class includes recent high school graduates who never had jobs, a 60-year-old student, a waitress, a grocery store clerk, a Certified Medical Assistant and a Licensed Practical Nurse. One student makes a more than hour drive from Westfield, just past the Stokes/Surry county line.
“A lot of people don’t know what Respiratory Therapy is, but it’s invaluable to anyone with breathing issues. I think Covid helped people understand more,” Pruitt said. “While nurses have a broad knowledge, we know the airway. When there’s an issue, we go right to the head of the bed and maintain the breathing. We know the heart and lungs.”
~By Gerri Hunt, RCC Director of Public Information
