‘Feeling the burnout’: 10% of KU Health System respiratory therapists quit amid COVID

Citing “exhaustion and frustration,” 15 respiratory therapists have left the University of Kansas Health System in the past three weeks.

That’s about 10% of the respiratory therapist workforce at the health system, which is trying to fill those positions.

“A lot of the health care community is feeling the burnout and feeling the pressure because people don’t think (COVID is) real and it is very real,” said Julie Rojas, a respiratory therapist who appeared on the health system’s daily briefing.

Rojas said care would not be impacted; it just may take longer with fewer people on staff.

She urged people to listen to the experts on COVID-19 and the vaccine.

“Back in December, patients would mainly tell me ‘I wish I didn’t have that birthday party’ or ‘I wish I didn’t have that Christmas party,’ because people got sick,” Rojas said. “And now I’ve had patients tell me ‘I wish I would have gotten that vaccine.’”

Losing patients, she said, is something that stays with you.

“Just to know right now that we could possibly prevent that just from a shot, is what really I think affects a lot of us emotionally,” she said.

The health system has had 30 deaths so far this month. During September 2020, there were 17 total deaths at the health system.

The Kansas City metropolitan area is recording an average of more than 500 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths per day.

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 10:40 AM.

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

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Katie Moore was an enterprise and accountability reporter for The Star. She covered justice issues, including policing, prison conditions and the death penalty. She is a University of Kansas graduate and began her career as a reporter in 2015 in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.