Campaign breathes new life into critical health-care role

Nearly half of the first-year respiratory therapy training seats at the University of Manitoba went unfilled this year even though there’s huge demand amid a staffing shortage.

However, application numbers have jumped since Manitoba’s largest post-secondary institution launched an awareness campaign about openings in the profession.

“I hope this year we are going to fill that gap,” said Dr. Jithin Sreedharan, who heads the university’s respiratory therapy department.

Respiratory therapists, who assist people suffering from breathing difficulties, often work in acute and critical-care hospital units.

The U of M runs a three-year respiratory therapy bachelor’s degree program, which is the only one in the province.

The program has expanded since the COVID-19 pandemic: historically, 16 students were accepted each year. That was bumped up to 20 in 2022, and then 40 in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

However, just 23 students are finishing the first year of the program and are expected to graduate in 2028.

There are 21 second-year students, and 10 are set to graduate in the fall (they enrolled before the number of seats available nearly doubled).

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has clocked an increase in respiratory therapists’ overtime hours — to 16,648 in 2024-25 from 13,443 in 2023-24, data from a freedom of information request shows.

“There’s been a very recognized workforce need, especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sreedharan said.

It’s why the program has been expanding and why, recently, the university has upped its marketing efforts.

The “very planned and deliberate intervention” has included outreach through social media by sharing students’ stories, holding information sessions and joining broader university recruitment efforts, Sreedharan said.

About 3,000 students learned about the respiratory therapy program through high school visits and other events. There were interactive experiences, including simulations to show how lungs function, Sreedharan said.

A digital campaign reached more than 62,000 social media accounts.

Program leads have also targeted Indigenous groups and extended the upcoming year’s application deadline.

“We are seeing a strong rebound in applications,” Sreedharan said.

There have been 86 applicants for the upcoming year, a jump from the 50 who applied for 2025-26 (17 were ineligible because they lacked the prerequisites), Sreedharan noted.

The small number of new graduates is worrisome, especially as people retire, said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

He highlighted overtime hours as being a consistent cost.

“There needs to be a plan and financial supports to ensure those training seats are filled, and that those students stay here when they graduate,” Linklater said.

Typically, few respiratory therapists leave Manitoba, according to the registrar of the profession’s regulating body.

But the slow growth in respiratory therapists — from 347 in 2019 to about 370 currently — hasn’t kept pace with demand.

“There’s always positions to fill,” said Nora Staunton, president of the Manitoba Association of Registered Respiratory Therapists. “Most of the students, when they graduate, are guaranteed a job somewhere.”

Health Sciences Centre had eight respiratory therapist job postings Friday; six were reposts.

Demand comes from an expanding number of hospital beds and a increase in chronic illnesses as Manitoba’s population ages, said Staunton, who works in acute care at HSC.

“When the province supports the funding for an increase in post-secondary seats in any given program, I think that speaks to a need,” said Deborah Handziuk, MARRT’s registrar.

The New Democrats were elected with a promise to “help fix health care,” said Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable.

“A huge part of that is looking at how we deliver not only the health care, but the health-care training,” Cable said.

The province announced at least $1.2 million for the respiratory therapist program expansion in 2023 (when the Progressive Conservatives were in power). Government has been working with the U of M, Cable said when asked about all of the program’s open seats this year.

Recruiting people and highlighting job prospects takes time, she said.

Respiratory therapists in Winnipeg aren’t used to their full potential, Staunton said — they often aren’t tapped for intubation jobs, for example, though they’re qualified to assist.

“RTs are just getting, I think, a little frustrated that they’re not able to work to their full scope of practice,” Staunton said, adding peers have more responsibilities in other provinces.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com