Respiratory therapists are an important part of the team in hospitals, nursing care facilities, or in home health, as they keep patients alive when they are recovering from serious surgery and until such point that they can breathe on their own. "Without respiratory therapists, patients recovering from open heart surgery, premature infants with poorly developed lungs, ER patients momentarily surviving accidents, severe asthmatics, and senior citizens with life-threatening pneumonia or flu would not survive to benefit from their pharmacological treatment," said Jon Nilsestuen, professor and chairman of the Department of Respiratory Care, School of Health Professions, at UTMB.