KMBC: More respiratory therapists needed in COVID-19 pandemic

As the nation's health care workers continue to fight COVID-19 and the call for more ventilators rapidly goes out, so does the call for more respiratory therapists to operate them. 

At Saint Luke's East, the hospital currently has about 35 respiratory therapists and more than 120 systemwide -- all interchangeable.

"We're able to utilize resources by maneuvering staff around to the entities that need them the most," said Alisha Hipsher, a Saint Luke's respiratory therapist. 

Saint Luke's said that operating the ventilators is a team effort. The more patients that come in, the more that team steps up.

"You watch people fill the role very quickly and efficiently," said pulmonology physician, Dr. Amelia Fitzpatrick.