Northeast Center for Special Care Ventilator Care Program Director Receives Award for Outstanding Dedication and Service

Northeast Center for Special Care Ventilator Care Program Director, Thomas R. Harvie, RRT, CPFT, Receives the President's Recognition Award from the Northeast Chapter of the New York State Society for Respiratory Care

Lake Katrine, NY (PRWeb) April 8, 2007 -- Northeast Center for Special Care is pleased to announce that Thomas R. Harvie, RRT, CPFT, Ventilator Care Program Director has been awarded the President's Recognition Award from the Northeast Chapter of the New York State Society for Respiratory Care (NYSSRC).

The award was presented to Mr. Harvie by Ken Wyka, MS, RRT, FAARC, President of the NYSSRC, during the Society's 2007 Respiratory Care Teaching Day on Friday March 30, 2007 at the Best Western/Sovereign Hotel in Albany, NY.

Northeast Center for Special Care is the premier ventilator care and weaning program in the country

The award was given in appreciation for Mr. Harvie's outstanding dedication and service to the northeast chapter of the NYSSRC and to the respiratory care profession.

"Northeast Center for Special Care is the premier ventilator care and weaning program in the country," Mr. Harvie, who has dedicated himself as a respiratory therapist noted.

He also said: "It's important for me to help people who have respiratory conditions to receive the best of care and rehabilitation. To be able to work at my profession in such an innovative and successful program as the Ventilator Care Program at Northeast Center for Special Care gives me great satisfaction - this is a special place. We have one of the highest weaning rates in the country and we have assisted hundreds of people to be able to return to their home communities and live as independently as possible. I feel honored to have received this award and to practice my clinical skills at Northeast Center."

Ann M. Belcher, CEO of Northeast Center for Special Care stated: "It takes a gifted clinical staff and strong leadership to achieve the wonderful outcomes we have brought about for people with respiratory problems or who have come to us breathing on mechanical ventilators. Mr. Harvie provides the leadership and motivation that drives our respiratory staff and interdisciplinary treatment teams to bring about those outcomes."

Mr. Harvie is a NBRC Registered Respiratory Therapist, and an NBRC Certified Pulmonary Function Technologist. He has worked at Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield Massachusetts, Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY and joined the staff of Northeast Center for Special Care in 2000. He was named Director of the Ventilator Care Program at Northeast Center in 2006.

The Ventilator Care Program at Northeast Center for Special Care is a state-of-art respiratory rehabilitation program for individuals, who are dependent on a mechanical ventilator, require respiratory rehabilitation or cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation. Northeast Center for Special Care is honored to have received the American Association for Respiratory Care Quality Respiratory Care Recognition Award: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and has a history of impressive clinical outcomes and one of the highest weaning rates in the country. Established in 1999, it is located on a lovely thirty-nine acre campus in Lake Katrine, NY. The mission of Northeast Center for Special Care is rehabilitation, recovery and community reentry for individuals with disabilities. Since its inception, hundreds of individuals have "graduated" from its programs and have moved on to integrated settings in their communities.

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