AARC Launches Virtual Museum

Website Tracks the Development of Respiratory Care

News provided by

American Association for Respiratory Care

Aug 05, 2014, 08:33 ET

DALLAS, Aug. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Step into any healthcare setting today and you'll see people receiving a wide range of sophisticated care from respiratory therapists. But did you know their profession only dates back to the early 1940s? That's when an array of new technology aimed at improving the care and treatment of people with lung conditions drove a group of forward thinking physicians to train the first clinicians in the field.

This oxygen cannula from the 1920s is one of the interesting photographs that chronicles the respiratory care profession as seen at museum.aarc.org. (PRNewsFoto/AARC)

You can learn much more about the birth of respiratory care, what led up to its formation, and the medical equipment, people and technology that has made it a vital profession and piece of the healthcare landscape in a new Virtual Museum just launched by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).

Located on the Web at museum.aarc.org, the site includes galleries focused on oxygen therapy, oxygen analyzers and monitors, oxygen enclosures, medical gas systems, and negative pressure ventilation – with more to come later this year. Pioneers dating all the way back to Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who discovered oxygen in the 1700s (naming it "fire air" and beating Joseph Priestly to the punch by a number of years), and Antoine Lavoisier, who gave oxygen its name, are covered as well.

Photographs and other artifacts featured in the museum were collected from medical manufacturers, colleges and universities, and individual respiratory therapists, physicians, and other health care providers from around the world. Now together in one place, they offer an exciting look at the development of a profession dedicated to caring for people with lung conditions — and the ground breaking discoveries and medical equipment that have made the treatment of those people possible.

About the AARC
The American Association for Respiratory Care, headquartered in Dallas, is a professional association of respiratory therapists that focuses primarily on respiratory therapy education and research. The organization's goals are to ensure that respiratory patients receive safe and effective care from qualified professionals as well as supporting respiratory health care providers. The association continues to advocate on behalf of pulmonary patients for appropriate access to respiratory services provided by qualified professionals. Further information about the AARC and how to become a respiratory therapist are available at www.AARC.org. Contact Sherry Milligan ([email protected]) for more information.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140804/133074

SOURCE American Association for Respiratory Care