Director-at-large
Caitlin Coppock
Integris Canadian Valley
Registered Respiratory Therapist
Member Since: 2014
AARC Activities:
- PACT Member, 2020
House of Delegates Activities:
- Substitute Delegate for Congress, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2018
Affiliate Activities:
- President, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2018–2019
- Past President, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2020
- President Elect, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2017
- PACT Representative, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2020
- Secretary, Oklahoma Society for Respiratory Care, 2016
Related Organizations:
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Oklahoma’s Finest Honoree, 2018
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Volunteer, 2019
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-Sooner Chapter, Lead Volunteer, 2020
Education:
- AAS RRT-ACCS, Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK 2014
- Tobacco Treatment Specialist, Mayo Clinic, 2019
- BS in Sports Management with Minor in Leadership Studies, Southwestern College, Winfield, KS 2010
Elections Committee Questions:
Within your role, and if given the opportunity, how would you incorporate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion to uphold, update, and uplift the AARC as an organization, all AARC affiliates, and all AARC members?
Education and students are our future. Ensuring that recently trained therapists, tenured therapists and those re-entering the profession get the necessary skills training to successfully treat and advocate for patients. Each one of the above mentioned populations play an important role in the future of our profession. I plan to to build relationships with the schools to develop a regional community for the student to network, and also tie in mentorship with tenured therapists for the future of our profession. Bridging the gap between experienced therapists and new therapists will only better our profession because we all bring something to the table. Students are learning theories, while older therapists have the experience and expertise of applying ideas and innovation to various situations. As we promote community and growth of the profession, it directly promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion to better the profession and uphold the standards of the AARC.
What ideas would you present to increase AARC membership?
I believe each state affiliate plays an important role in membership and that is where we would need to start. Encouraging and supporting affiliates and listening to ideas they have, and what they’ve seen be successful for them and sharing that information with other affiliates is a great place to start. It is a team effort. I also strongly believe that grass root efforts and getting face to face with individuals is how we can grow membership; people want to be heard, so going to where people are, whether that’s having a town hall at hospitals, or outreach teams to go and have meetings in department huddles. Being available is the key. It is important to be present, because people want to know their membership is not just a fee they pay annually. People need to feel involved and valued and by engaging non-members and future members in smaller groups, they will feel more relevant to the organization.
Role-Specific Questions:
Your role as Director-at-large is to represent the general AARC membership. If given the opportunity to represent, how have you prepared or educated yourself to adequately represent the national membership?
I believe I have a unique opportunity being in direct patient care as a voice for the majority of members who are performing the same job as myself. Since graduation, I have been heavily involved with the Oklahoma Society which has presented me with opportunities to network and learn from other AARC members. During my tenure as President, we implemented outreach efforts to go to our state hospitals to visit with RTs and listen to their concerns. We were very active with the schools, visiting them and engaging them to be involved with AARC PACT initiatives and saw participation increase significantly. I am an active learner and continue to pursue opportunities to better myself by advancing my credentials and reading research to know how to better care for my patients. I am in the process of deciding which graduate program to pursue. I am passionate about ensuring our profession does not remain stagnant, but we pursue opportunities for growth and for always staying patient focused.
