{"id":95844,"date":"2025-11-13T03:20:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=95844"},"modified":"2025-11-12T15:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T19:10:37","slug":"veteran-respiratory-therapist-honored-for-providing-exceptional-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/11_13_2025\/veteran-respiratory-therapist-honored-for-providing-exceptional-care","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Respiratory Therapist Honored for Providing Exceptional Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

UToledo Health recently honored a respiratory therapist who has spent nearly three decades at the University of Toledo Medical Center with a PHIL Award for the extraordinary care and compassion she provides to her patients.<\/p>\n

Melissa Riley-Kennedy is UToledo Health\u2019s first recipient of the award, which is part of a national program overseen by the Michigan-based nonprofit FACES Foundation to recognize the contributions of exceptional respiratory therapists.<\/p>\n

\"Left

From left, Abby Bushman, respiratory care manager; Melissa Riley-Kennedy, respiratory therapist and winner of UToledo Health’s inaugural PHIL Award; and Melissa Kukiela, respiratory care director.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRespiratory therapists are a vital part of the healthcare team, quietly making a big difference in patients\u2019 lives,\u201d said Melissa Kukiela, director of respiratory care at UToledo Health. \u201cThe PHIL Award gives us a way to publicly recognize these unsung heroes for the support and often lifesaving care they provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FACES Foundation and the PHIL Award were established in 2006 in honor of Philip C. Lamka, who died the prior year from interstitial lung disease.<\/p>\n

Today, nearly 300 hospitals nationwide partner with the organization to present an annual award to a leading member of their own respiratory care team.<\/p>\n

Riley-Kennedy was one of 20 respiratory therapists to be nominated by their peers for UToledo\u2019s inaugural award.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am incredibly humbled to be the first winner of the PHIL award,\u201d she said. \u201cI can’t say enough that it is a team effort to care for patients.\u00a0To know that my peers value me as part of that team?\u00a0What can you really say about that except a heartfelt thank you.\u00a0I truly couldn’t do what I do without my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

A UToledo alumna, Riley-Kennedy knew she wanted to work in healthcare but wasn\u2019t sure how. After a year and half in nursing school, she found her fit in respiratory therapy.<\/p>\n

She returned to UToledo not long after graduation and recently celebrated her 28th anniversary with UToledo Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the people I work with.\u00a0They are my extended family.\u00a0We spend holidays, birthdays and anniversaries together. I couldn’t do my job without everyone else here,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other thing I love about the job is caring for our patients.\u00a0We hold their hand through some of the best and worst days of their lives, and I hope that our patients see we only want the best for them. Seeing a patient improve enough to be discharged is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Respiratory therapists have a broad set of responsibilities, ranging from assessing a patient\u2019s lung function and administering breathing treatments to managing patients on ventilators and assisting in critical care situations, such as cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work really closely with the emergency department, trauma, the critical care units, pulmonary medicine and the sleep lab,\u201d Kukiela said. \u201cA lot of times, we\u2019re seeing the same patient from the moment they come through the door until they\u2019re discharged, and it was big morale boost for our team to see the nominations that came in from folks throughout the hospital. It\u2019s a big deal to know you\u2019re appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this year\u2019s award, nominations came exclusively from employees, with more than 70 submissions received. In the future, nominations also will be open to patients and patients\u2019 family members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Riley-Kennedy is the first recipient of UToledo Health\u2019s PHIL Award, which is part of a nationwide program to recognize respiratory therapists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":849,"featured_media":95845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,1,7,63],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95844"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95849,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95844\/revisions\/95849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}