St. Clair College Respiratory Therapy students have been granted early licences, as they are placed into action in the fight against COVID-19.
Thirteen students who are in their third year of studies will be eligible to receive their licences from the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario, according to Connie Sivyer, coordinator of the Respiratory Therapy program at St. Clair College.
“The regulatory body is not graduating the students. That’s up to the colleges,” Sivyer said. “But they are saying even though they are not graduated, they are close enough. We will give them a license to practice.”
The students will be required to complete online classes and exams in order to graduate, Sivyer said. “They may in fact have to go back and do some clinical placements, but we have not identified those gaps yet.”
Sivyer said the students will have to apply to Health Force Ontario, which is dealing with nurses and other health care professionals whose licences have lapsed, but want to re-enter the field to help during the COVID-19 crisis.
The aspiring Respiratory Therapists “have sufficient training to be significant and valuable assets to whoever takes them on board,” Sivyer said.